


X-Men: Resurgence

by MatrixOfWumbo



Series: MCU: After Infinity [4]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), X-Men - All Media Types
Genre: Action/Adventure, Gen, Mild Language, Science Fiction, Superheroes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-05
Updated: 2018-11-11
Packaged: 2019-06-05 18:45:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 22
Words: 33,683
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15176969
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MatrixOfWumbo/pseuds/MatrixOfWumbo
Summary: They showed her how to control her abilities. They opened her eyes to the plight of mutants around the world. And then they vanished. Now, seventeen years later, Kitty Pryde must gather a new generation of mutants to investigate the machinations of Essex Corporation and their sinister leader. An idea of how to bring the X-Men into the MCU.





	1. Chapter 1

_A/N: This story takes place in the near future of the MCU. Part 1 of this series tells the story of how this world differs from the movies, but for this story you really only need to know two things: Thanos' culling of the universe was thwarted, and Captain America died in a heroic sacrifice. Neither is particularly crucial to this story, however. The X-Characters in this story are not related to the movie X-Men, though I did base the X-23 in this story off of the one from Logan, and I always picture Ellen Page and Patrick Stewart when I write Kitty and Xavier._

* * *

 

_ Deerfield Illinois, 2006 _

_Kitty Pryde was having a strange day. For one, she had woken up on her kitchen floor, when she was sure she had fallen asleep in her room upstairs. For another, her parents had guests. Few had come to visit since the divorce talks began. Kitty wasn't entirely sure what the word meant, but it had something to do with the fights her mom and dad had gotten in over the last several months._

_They were a strange lot too. A boy, maybe high school age with sharp features and gleaming eyes. He wore a coat and hat even indoors, and fingered his wrist watch anxiously. A scary man with a rough face and thick sideburns. He faced the window wearing a biker jacket and felt hat, and was sniffing the air with a scowl. A beautiful woman with red hair and a green sweater, enjoying the tea Kitty's mother had put out. A thin man with peculiar red sunglasses. Kitty thought he might be blind._

_When she came in the room the woman smiled at the eleven-year old and got off the couch to meet her. "You must be Katherine. I'm Jean. Very pleased to meet you."_

_"Kitty, these people are from the Xavier School in New York," her mother said. "They said they wanted to talk to you."_

_"To me?"_

_"Yes Katzchen," the boy said in a light German accent. "My name is Kurt, that's Scott, and the grumpy one by the window is Logan."_

_"Mm," the man said, not breaking concentration._

_Jean smiled again. "You may not have realized yet, but you have a gift."_

_Scott stood up now. "Kitty, do you know what a mutant is?"_

_She never got to answer. Suddenly the man at the window tensed up, and three knife-like claws sprung from his knuckles. Then the front wall of Kitty's house burst inward in a hail of splinters. The shapes of three heavily armored figures and one woman appeared in the cloud of dust..._

Kitty sat bolt upright in bed. She turned to her nightstand. The clock showed 3:15 in the morning. " _Shit_ ," she swore under her breath. She had to be up in 3 hours to get to work. Looks like she had another double shot espresso in her future. The nightmares had been getting worse. Though perhaps it was wrong to call them nightmares. Her home really was attacked that day, and her life changed forever. That was 17 years ago. Back when her parents were still together. Back before the world was full of superheroes. Back when she was nearly an X-Man.

**|X-Men: Resurgence|**

Chicago, 2023

Kitty had her coffee at 6:30. She caught the Blue Line into Washington at 7:05. She sat in her cubicle at the tech firm in Chicago she worked at until 5. She swam at the gym down the street from her apartment until 6:30. She ate a bowl of instant noodles for dinner.

It was a perfectly average day in her miserably average life.

Though she only spent about two years with the X-Men, Kitty continued to think of her friends throughout her adolescence. Back then it made her sad. Now that she was "an adult," (as her mother liked to say) well, she liked to think she had evolved beyond "sad." She liked being able to use her computer science degree, but every time she looked around her office a small part of her thought about her room at the mansion.

She flicked on the news. _Might as well see what Spider-Man got up to today_ , she thought.

In the 15 years since the Xavier School closed so much of the world had changed. Heroes rose. Aliens fell from the sky. Gods lived on Earth. But the mutants remained hidden. Kitty didn't know how Professor Xavier had managed to do it. He had the power to read and influence any mind he could touch. Somehow he must have used that power to make everyone forget that mutants were around, and that they hated them. It hadn't been the way he wanted things to go. The professor dedicated his life to bridging the gap between human and mutantkind. _I guess that gap is there forever now, huh Professor?_

With a yawn Lockheed flitted into the living room and curled up in her lap. At least one thing in her life wasn't normal. The little purple dragon was a friend of the professor's that took a liking to Kitty when she was at the school. After the place closed down, he allowed Lockheed to accompany her. It wasn't an easy life for him; he had to spend most of the time outdoors in a cat carrier, specially disguised with the tech Kurt and Doctor McCoy used to blend in. He didn't get to fly much. Still, he had her and she had him, and things had worked out so far.

Not for the first time Kitty found herself wanting to go to New York and join up with the Avengers there. Nobody had to know she was a mutant. She could just claim to be "enhanced" like that Maximof girl. But if the Professor had wanted that, surely one of her stronger friends like Peter or Jean would have already tried it?

 _So I'll stay put_ , she thought, as she stroked the tiny dragon's head. She had this power within her desperate to come out, but it really wasn't that impressive.

_Face it Kitty. This is where you belong._

* * *

San Antonio

The rumors surrounding Nathan Essex were the stuff of legend.

Some said he owned his own private island. Some said he had a house in every city in the world. Some swore he was secretly Asgardian.

Alison Blaire didn't know if any of those were true, but all the same the atmosphere of awe and intrigue inside the room was palpable. Today the enigmatic tech mogul was making a rare public appearance at this San Antonio developer's conference, and everyone was interested as to why. Like so many of her colleagues inside of SHIELD (the ones who weren't secretly Nazis anyway), Blaire had joined the FBI after the organization fell to ruin. And since so many of the world's problems in the last 10 years had come from eccentric and scientific-minded billionaires, the Bureau made a habit of keeping tabs on their big new inventions.

A loudspeaker welcomed him to the stage, and as the lights dimmed the broad form of Essex appeared on stage. Sharp, was the word Blaire would have used to describe him. Squared-off shoulder pads topped his navy suit jacket, and he his hair was combed back into a fine widow's peak. His chin was immensely strong and square, whether it was from his actual jaw or a product of his neatly trimmed beard. In many ways he matched the diamond shaped graphics of the Essex Corp logo.

"Ladies and Gentlemen," he spoke in a baritone like two stone slabs scraping together. "We live in an age of miracles. A time when sorcery and technology blur together, a world where serums and radiation push the very limits of human ability."

Behind him a slideshow began. 'Mutation Genesis Project' appeared in neat blue letters. The reporters in the audience murmured. Announcing a break into biotech would be quite a coup for the software company.

"But have we ever truly exceeded these limits? Have we broken past the barrier of our humanity and realized the twenty-first century man?"

The next slide was a grainy archival image of a poster poster for one of Captain America's war films. "Steve Rogers was augmented to beyond peak human performance, giving him the strength to lift great burdens and run at great speeds. Many have tried - and few have succeeded - to replicate the cellular rejuvenation of Captain Rogers' case." Here he flipped through a series a images. The Hulk in Johannesburg. The Black Panther and the Winter Soldier running through traffic in Bucharest.

"Still others have enjoyed success by probing into the minds of others."

Leaked SHIELD files of HYDRA's Sokovia base and the experiments they did using the Asgardian Loki's mind control scepter appeared. Newsreel of the Scarlet Witch in Lagos flashed across the projector screen. Alison found herself looking down. The fall of SHIELD was years ago, but it still had plenty of impact on her.

"The Maximoff Twins were a revelation in the study of neurons and human physiology. But again. These changes were cellular in nature. My focus was more narrow."

A pair of heavily redacted scans stamped 'Phenotype X' now clicked into frame.

"Genes, my friends. Over the last six years Essex Corp has extensively delved into the unknown reaches of our DNA. The results have been extraordinary. Concealed on our twenty-third chromosome is a region of genes in which all of humanity's infinite potential lies dormant. For years I have tried to awaken this region, and now I come before you - successful!"

A tall man joined Essex on stage, his shirt sleeve rolled up to his elbow. He appeared to be one of Essex's bodyguards. Raising the hand up, he closed his eyes. At once the arm was coated a shiny black. He demonstrated his range of motion by clenching his fingers into a fist before the astonished crowd.

"Human mutation is real. It is possible. And at the Essex Corporation, it is here. Today. A simple skin graft can unshackle the human race from its earthly limitations. This is the next stage of evolution!"

Even as the crowd erupted into applause, Agent Blaire was headed for the exit. This wasn't the first time she had heard this lecture on the special genes of the 23rd Chromosome. That had happened ages ago, when she was still a rookie at SHIELD. No one was supposed to know about that stuff anymore, and she was a big part of the reason why. If someone had rediscovered the X-Gene, she suspected something was very wrong in Westchester New York.

* * *

That night she found herself back in her childhood home.  _Kurt touched a button on his watch and transformed into a fuzzy blue creature with yellow eyes. Jean's eyes blazed with a pink fire and she floated off the floor of the Prydes' ruined living room. Leaping over the sofa, Scott whipped off his glasses and fired a red beam of energy from his eyes._

_Everything happened in an instant. Logan charged forward to the first armored man. A swift, sharp uppercut and the suit fell unmoving in a lump. Jean surged higher, grabbing the other two suits with an unseen force and bashing them together. Scott meanwhile sent blast after blast towards the woman, but they all seemed to just miss. Kitty was transfixed on her. She wore a fur cape, knee-high boots, a thin shawl, and a tube top. Every part of her outfit was white. Even her hair was a platinum blonde, and her lips were made up an icy silver._

_The blue creature grabbed her parents. "Stay there Katzchen, I'll be back for you!" And in an instant all three disappeared in a puff of purple smoke. Kitty lurched backwards, groping for the wall between the living room and kitchen. Instead she found herself falling_  through _the wall, landing in a cupboard under the kitchen counter. The girl gasped in shock, but then she started to think about what Scott was saying. Mutants. Were_ they _mutants? They all had uncanny abilities they were using to fight off the attackers with. If she was one too, was this her power? Taking a breath, she leaned forward, allowing her head to pass through the wall again. She immediately wished she hadn't._

 _Logan was unconscious, the woman sauntering past him and towards Scott. With a wave of her hand he too fell. Jean was momentarily distracted by seeing the man taken out, but that seemed to be all the opening the woman in white needed to fell her. Kurt puffed back into the room and yelled for Kitty, but he wasn't paying attention to the powerful assailant. Kitty watched in horror as the four were carted away into a van by men in masks, similar to the armored ones but in more traditional cloth. The woman briefly turned to look in Kitty's direction, but didn't notice her._  In her sleep Kitty shuttered. She didn't know it then, but the eyes that passed over her hiding spot were those of Emma Frost, and they had haunted her for many months after.

 _Once some time had passed, Kitty emerged from the cupboard and ran to the closet in the back hall. She heard sirens blaring in the distance. The fire department would be there soon._ _She found what she was looking for in the bottom of the closet behind where they kept their rain boots: a phone book. It took a lot of the little girl's strength to flip all the way to the back, but it wasn't hard to find the number she needed. The Xavier School for Gifted Youngsters. Rushing back with the family's cordless phone, she dialed the number._

_"Hello?" came the voice. It was old. British, Kitty thought. "Hello, my name is Kitty Pryde, I live in Deerfield Illinois, you sent people to my house but they've been kidnapped. I don't know where my mom and dad are." Tears started welling up. "You need to come here because I don't know what to do! I need help!"_

_"Not this time, Katherine," the voice responded. "This time it is I who need your help. And you who must come here."_

Her eyes opened wide, all thought of another sleepless night gone from her head.

What the heck did that mean?

 

 


	2. Chapter 2

The next morning Nathan Essex and his security detail were preparing to board his private plane.

"Sir?" The voice belonged to James, one of his guards and the latest recipient of the Essex mutation graft treatment. "It hasn't gone away yet." He held up his black hand, now stiffly held in a clasping motion. He was having trouble bending his elbow as well.

"Come inside, James. I'll pour you a drink."

Even among private jets the inside of SX-1 was something to behold. The interior was red velvet, trimmed in ivory and gold. Most of the seats had been removed in favor of square tables. A bottle of Merlot and two glasses were already waiting for them.

"I'll level with you James," Essex said as he opened the bottle and took a deep smell of its contents. "Mm. Exceptional year. You see James, it has taken a very long time for our laboratories to develop a way to activate the mutation genes. To the extent that the costs have begun to eclipse that of our more traditional operations. The Essex Corporation came to San Antonio in hopes of garnering more investor interest in this little passion project of mine. So I was pleasantly surprised with the results of your live demonstration. You are among the few so far who have been able to activate the gene voluntarily."

"You didn't know it would work?"

"I had a good feeling it would work. And if it didn't," he produced a small remote from his breast pocket, "a tiny electric impulse from the transponder in your skin graft would have kick-started the process just as well."

James eyed the remote hungrily. "So then you can send another signal to the transponder and turn this off?"

Essex chuckled, poured himself a glass of wine, then looked up at the guard. "There's the rub, James. The graft activates the genes; we have hundreds of human and animal test subjects to verify that. The trouble is we can't seem to  _de_ activate them. Control of the ability, in your case the production of obsidian crystal in your epidermal cells, seems to be of the mind. Without the neurological cue, your body is currently reacting to the treatment as though it were an autoimmune infection, producing more and more crystalline solid."

"So you have no cure? And you've been using it on people?" James leaned forward to grab the table wide eyed. But his right arm wouldn't drop below his shoulder. "Why would you go public with this?"

"Because we're tantalizingly close now," he leered. Within a week or so our sample stock will yield the white matter we need make the treatment completely viable. You will surely perish, but your family will be compensated by the knowledge that you were a pioneer in the next frontier of evolution."

"Damn you. You've killed me! The firm will hear about this!" But as James got up to run from the plane his leg seized up. With a thud he hit the floor, almost half of his body paralyzed inside a black glassy shell.

Nathan put the remote away and took a sip of his wine as the plane took off. Once the treatment went global he would need to find more stock, diversify the product line. Impenetrable skin had lucrative military application, but it was hardly a glamorous choice for mass retail. With luck the mutant at the press conference yesterday would have something more marketable.

* * *

"Yeah, New York. I have an old SHIELD contact there I need to talk to before I come back to headquarters. But suffice to say, we were right about Essex. Something's rotten in there."

Agent Blaire stopped at her car and turned around. She was pretty sure that the black van driving up the ramp behind her was on its second lap around the parking garage.

"I have to call you back. I'll check in once I'm at the airport."

She opened the door wide enough to spy the feet of four men emerge from the van reflected in the side view mirror. What looked like shock batons hung at their belts. "Okay, here goes nothing."

She slammed the door shut; she needed a big sound to pull off her party trick. Pivoting on her heel she produced a burst of multicolored light at her pursuers. As they reeled from the blinding flash she leapt over the wall and out of the garage.

Blaire's adrenaline was pumping. She hadn't used her mutant power in a long time. Unfortunately, more men were waiting in the street below. They all wore tight-fitting black three-quarter tees with sunglasses. They didn't have any distinguishing marks but she didn't need two decades of espionage experience to guess they were Essex Corporation goons. If she could lose these guys she could grab a cab and get to the airport. The FBI could arrange for the luggage in her trunk to be moved after she checked in.

This was far from the first time she had been chased by thugs, and she had little intention of it being her last. The most important thing was to make noise; knock over that trash can, cross at this busy street. Her powers allowed her to convert sound into light. In college she used it to spruce up her band's gigs, but she could also use it for... nastier applications.

"Get away!" She screamed at foot traffic as she barreled down the sidewalk. She suspected this was more attention than the pursuers wanted, but it wasn't enough to make them back off. Hopefully she wouldn't have to use her powers once the cops showed up; she doubted her badge would let her talk her way out of that conversation.

_First: whip around the corner here. Next, a hardlight beam._

The first two around the corner were sent flying into the street. Breaks squealed as the car attempted vainly not to strike the thugs. They'd live.

_Two down, two more behind. Weren't there four in the - oh yeah, the van._

The black van was careening backwards down sidewalk ahead of her, doors open ready, it seemed, to catch her. So much for these guys worrying about keeping a low profile. Unfortunately for them, this was a pretty stupid plan. Forming a softball-sized orb of hard light, she pitched it overhand into the front of the truck. With the running start afforded by the still-reversing truck she vaulted into the truck and snapped her fingers. The ball exploded into a flood of white, taking out the driver in short order.

"I hope none of this winds up on YouTube," Blaire muttered as she booted the driver out the door. This made things even less complicated. Getting pulled over by the local law enforcement  _w_ _as something_  her badge could get her out of. Turning onto the next street she caught an amusing sight out the passenger side-view mirror. One last goon had grabbed onto the door and was clinging to it with steely resolve as the van sped along.

"Essex must pay you guys a heck of a lot if you're going through this much trouble for little old me!" She angled a finger at the mirror and shot a laser, thin but utter havok to a human retina, bouncing back to the poor goon.

The blare of sirens announced the arrival of San Antonio's finest. She found a good spot to pull over and rolled down her window. "I suppose we're past 'license and registration' eh? Alison Blaire, FBI."

The police officer squinted as he checked her badge, then looked back at the half-block of mayhem in her wake. "That was quite the move, agent. I've never heard of the FBI using tech like that. You some sort of ninja?"

"The FBI has all sorts of toys that you've never heard of. But they don't have ninjas." Allison had met a few ninjas in the last twenty years. None of them dressed like her.

"Ah, well, are you doing alright now? Can we give you any help?" The officer didn't really think she looked like she needed any help, but she was a woman who had just fled four armed assailants. "Can I give you a ride anywhere? I'm pretty sure we're gonna need to confiscate that van."

Alison smiled. "Well, I  _could_  use a lift back to my hotel..."


	3. Chapter 3

For two whole days Kitty thought about the dream. She remembered that day perfectly. The X-Men had come to Deerfield to rescue her and their teammates. Professor Xavier didn't say those things to her.  _Unless,_ she thought,  _he wasn't speaking to dream-me. He was speaking to the real me._  He was the most powerful psychic in the world. He could do that, couldn't he?

She was sitting on the L Train headed home from work. Now she grabbed hold of the stanchion in front of her and closed her eyes. It didn't take long for her to drift away...

_Night had fallen. This was after the phone call, and after more of Frost's goons had shown up at her house. She had been chased into the town, using any opportunity to run through a wall to dodge the men. But now she was stuck in an alley, the floodlights of a car in front of her, two masked thugs on the other side of a chain link fence behind her. Months later she would discover that people were just as susceptible to her phasing powers as solid walls, but tonight she was a scared little girl. As the men advanced on her, she heard a deep rush of wind overhead._

_It was at that point that two huge shapes leapt from the roof of the building. A broad man made of metal thudded down and tore the front of the car off with his bare hands. The chains in the fence rattled as a hulking blue monster landed atop it, grabbing the two thugs with thick, hairy arms._

_Regaining her senses, Kitty ran through the walls of one of the buildings and - finding a stairwell - began to climb as fast as she could._

_Emerging on the roof Kitty found a sleek black jet, engines humming and hatch open. The silhouettes of a man and woman pierced the light from inside the ship. The man was in a wheelchair, while the woman stood in a flowing cape. The light shined through her white hair like a halo._

_Kitty was getting ready to run again, but something about the pair put her at ease._

_"It's okay Kitty," the man said smiling. He was entirely bald, and wore a neat grey suit. "We mean you no harm. You spoke to me on the phone."_

_Kitty stepped forward, a child no longer. The world froze around them._

_"Look how you've grown. I'm so sorry things turned out the way they did."_

_"What's going on Professor?"_

_"Something has come up. I need you to come back. I need everyone I can trust. I'm afraid I don't have the strength to say much more from this distance. I don't want to pull you from your life, but-"_

_"What life?" Kitty cried. Her face didn't change but her voice held a hint of anguish. "How could I go back to reality after two years in your world?"_

_"You deserved so much more," Xavier said sadly, "Come home. Hopefully I can start to set things right."_

Kitty's head hit the window of the train. She looked around.  _Dammit._  She was about five stops past her station.

* * *

Manhattan

"Alison, what's going on? It was a reconnaissance mission, now there's car chases, and safe houses, and guys with shock batons? You going all Fury on us?"

The voice on the other end of the line belonged to Sharon Carter, one of the few people from SHIELD Allison still talked to. She was Sharon's SO when the spy first joined the agency. The two went their separate ways when Carter joined the CIA, but Blaire trusted her with more personal information than her non-SHIELD colleagues at the FBI.

"You ever been in one of Fury's safe houses, Probie? Guy went through MRE's like nobody's business. I at least need a fridge and a microwave."

"Har har. But seriously, I'm worried about you. Who's this SHIELD contact and why is it so important that you go to them before the Bureau?"

Blaire sighed. "Okay, but I need your word that you forget about this conversation after it happens."

There was a brief pause Alison interpreted as Sharon activating the anti-listening field on her laptop. Just because there was no more SHIELD didn't mean agents didn't take a few of SHIELD's toys for the road. "Is this about that time before Special Forces you would never tell me about?"

"Yeah," Alison said darkly. She took a deep breath. "So, hypothetically speaking, let's say there was a superhero team around before the Avengers Initiative."

"Like the Ant-Man Missions from the 70's?"

"Not quite. These guys were freelance. Never SHIELD-sanctioned."

Sharon frowned. "Sounds impossible. All of SHIELD'S data got dumped online during Project Insight."

"Oh impossible was these guys' specialty. But there were no records  _to_  leak, digital or paper. This was deepest cover. Zero clearance. Not even Fury knew. Probably. You never can be sure with him."

"If it was so secret then how do you know about it?"

"Because back before we buried them I was their liaison with the agency. This Essex situation was the sort of thing they dealt with back then. I want to know what they know about the situation, if they still keep tabs."

"What are you going to tell the FBI when you get back? That you're sharing intel with an organization that doesn't exist?"

She leaned back in her chair. "I haven't thought of everything yet. I have 48 hours before they think I've gone rogue or something. If the situation with Essex Corp is as bad as I'm afraid it is then the secret will have to come out."

"It's your call Dazz. But can I ask one more thing?"

"Shoot. And don't call me that." Sharon reveled in the fact that she knew Alison's old stage name. To Blaire it had... a different meaning that her recent encounters were bringing back to the surface.

Sharon grinned. "You know I'll never let you live that down. But these superheroes, why were you the liaison? Was it a Coulson situation or more of a...  _Black Widow_  situation?"

"That's a conversation I'd rather have in person. If I'm still alive next weekend we'll have a cup of coffee and I'll tell you all about my misspent youth."

"It's a date. And don't worry. We've been in worse scrapes than this."

Alison ended the call. There was a reason Carter was fast tracked to the Special Forces unit. She could cut right through your deception. It's why she didn't like keeping secrets from her. But lying about the X-Men had become second nature to her. She wondered how long that was a secret she'd be able to keep.

* * *

By the time the taxi had Kitty back at her apartment the place was deserted. Everyone on her floor was asleep when she reached her front door. Something stopped her hand as she reached for the handle; she looked around to make sure she wasn't seen, and then took a deep breath. She took a step forward.

Like the sensation of cracking a stiff back, Kitty felt a great weight lifting off her shoulders as she passed through the door. Now inside her apartment, she fell to her knees in tears. Lockheed crept forward to see what was the matter, but she looked up at him with a smile; a determination she thought long dead now burned in her eyes.

"Pack a bag, dragon. We're going back."


	4. Chapter 4

There was something eerie about how little the Xavier Mansion had changed since Kitty last stood before its wrought iron gate. A simple X inside a circle adorned the doorframe, over the words "Xavier School"

No sooner than she reached for the buzzer did the gates swing open with a rusty whine. And there she was again, standing on the well-manicured lawn of Charles Xavier's front yard. The students spent most of their time outdoors in the backyard, but this was her first and last memory of her time here. The trip up the drive to her new room was the last time she was with both of her parents at the same time. Now the mansion stood quiet and dark in the shadow of the early morning.

She heard a small honk from the cat carrier in her left hand. "Sorry Lockjaw. You've been very patient." She undid the latch of the little door and let the dragon take flight. He cried out in joy, cartwheeling through the air above the mansion. Kitty watched him with a smile until he landed at the front door. Readjusting her grip on her luggage, she walked the rest of the way up to the front step and phased through the door.

The entrance hall was three stories tall, dominated by the grand staircase leading up to each floor. Green walls and dark wood gave the whole room a warm and cozy feel that spoke to the professor's humble tastes. Despite his wealth and the house's sprawling size, the professor kept his home modestly decorated. Dawn was filtering through the great windows, giving the whole scene a soft, painterly feel.

"Hello?" Her voice echoed through the hall. Kitty dropped her luggage on the carpet and made her way towards the stairs, when she heard a voice from the den. It was a voice she thought she would never hear again.

"Katzchen?"

"Kurt?!"

The lanky blue form of Kurt Wagner was standing in the doorway, looking very surprised to see her. She ran up and gave him a big hug.

"Kurt! Oh am I glad to see you, Fuzzy Elf! Did the professor summon you too? What's going on?"

"I'm not quite sure yet. Only that the professor has been waiting for you. We've already spoken, the two of us. But you, look how big you've gotten!"

"I suppose I must be taller than when you last saw me. You on the other hand haven't changed a bit."

Kurt grinned. "Seems aging isn't something I do much these days. Something to do with my teleporting slowing my metabolism. We will catch up later - believe me, I would dearly love that. But you must see the professor first. He's upstairs in his bedroom."

Kurt pointed a wide finger up to the second floor master suite. Kitty felt her pulse pick up a bit as she climbed the stairs, two years of memories flooding back into her. A pair of double doors marked the entrance to the professor's quarters. They stood ajar, beckoning the woman inside.

Kitty had never been in this room of the house. The far wall was made of windows and a pair of glass doors leading to the balcony. There were many framed photos and newspaper clippings celebrating the X-Men's escapades from long ago. A four-poster bed sat against the righthand wall. On Kitty's side of the bed was a wheelchair, and a small alcove leading to the elevator the professor used to get around. On the far side Kitty could make out a small bookshelf, likely full of scrapbooks and genetics journals. But if her eyes passed over any of that, the only thing they registered was the small, frail man sitting upright in bed, staring at her with shining eyes.

"Katherine. Welcome home, child."

He motioned for her to sit on the edge of the bed. Tears were forming in her eyes, but her confusion was still overriding her other emotions.

"I always knew, always, that you would come when I needed it most."

"But why now Professor, what's going on? What do I have to do with this?"

"Each of those questions has a different answer, so allow me to explain," he began. "After the X-Men... disbanded all those years ago, I was distraught. And in that state I made a drastic decision."

"You erased all the records of mutantkind's existence."

"Yes. With the help of Jean and two others. Initially I intended on starting over, training you children to be a new team of mutant leaders, and then doing what I could to undo our mental illusion. But it seems that Jean's power especially caused a lull in the manifestation of new mutants. And a year after that, a new group of people with special skills and powers began to emerge. With no new mutants to protect and no X-Men to protect them, I saw fit to close the school. To wallow in my failure."

"But you didn't fail. We've been safe all this time, haven't we?" Kitty asked softly. She didn't really know what to say, but that sounded right.

"Indeed. Until now. A resurgence of the X-Gene in young people across the globe has begun, and soon there will be too many for the public to ignore. Already my powers are beginning to weaken, and I fear that, bit by bit, that forgotten fear will no longer be forgotten. That is why I need you."

"What can I do?"

"My power - my  _strength_ \- is failing. All this time I've spent keeping up this facade, it's too much. Soon I will be gone, and someone else will have to raise the next generation of mutants. That someone, Kitty, is you."

Every word was a brick to the head. She reached for the professor's hand. "You're... dying? No. No! You can't die! You... you can't."

"Anyone can die, Kitty. And I have lived for a long life, even before we met. My time has come, and I'm ready for it. Because I know that my work can continue in the hearts of people like you."

"Professor, you only knew me for two years. I was a little girl! Why are you leaving this to me?"

Xavier gestured to the windows on his right. Suddenly the morning sun morphed into the light of a hotel room, where the professor was seated with Carmen and Theresa Pryde.

* * *

 

_"I'm deeply sorry for your home, Mrs. Pryde. I'll cover all necessary repairs, you have my word."_

_"Mr. Xavier," her father said._

_"Charles, please," the professor insisted._

_"Charles, I appreciate your help, but what are you and your people involved in? What have you involved my wife and I in? And where's our daughter?"_

_"She is safe, my associates are protecting her. You may see her as soon as you wish, but first I think you're owed some answers."_

_As her father paced around the floor and her mother sat on the bed still shocked, Professor Xavier told them everything. About his school for the gifted. About Kitty's powers having begun to awaken. About those who would exploit those powers for evil means, such as the ones who had attacked the house the previous day._

_"Now, with your permission of course, I would like your daughter's help one more time."_

_"Her help?" Her father cried, "She's eleven! You're some kind of superhero!"_

_Now the professor's face was more stern. "She is young, but she has more courage than you know. Her actions today may have saved the lives of my teammates. Her mutant abilities emerged just days ago and already she displays great skill with them. With further education, she could be truly special. I know both of you are scared right now, but try to see that much. For her sake."_

_Finally her mother spoke up. "Carmen. Maybe we should see what Kitty thinks?"_

_Her father opened her mouth to say something but stopped when their eyes met. He turned to Xavier. "You would keep her safe?"_

_"As though she were my own."_

_He sat down next to his wife. "Maybe you're right."_

* * *

 

The scene faded, and they were in the bedroom once again. Kitty was now fully in tears, the events of the last few days finally catching up to her.

"Telepathy is not clairvoyance," the professor said. "Maybe if it were I would have been able to prevent all of this. But I meant everything I said that day. When I heard your voice on the phone I feared we would be too late to come to your rescue. Imagine my surprise when I discovered you had spent those last hours fleeing the forces of the White Queen. Two years in Vietnam and the bravest person I ever met was a little girl. I knew then that you belonged at my school."

"Professor I - I'll do it. I'll take over the X-Men. But how will I find them?"

"I have made some arrangements. For the immediate future, don't worry. They will come to you. You will have everything you need. If I could, I would remain longer, to help you get started. But it isn't to be."

"How long do you have?"

"No time at all, child. It's already done." And he was gone.

All around her, the professor's illusion melted away. The sun in the sky turned to gloomy overcast. The lights went out, and the layer of dust coating the entire house revealed itself. The furniture sat preserved in plastic wrap, the floors sagging and faded. Outside the lawn, so trimmed just before, became waist-high and dotted with weeds. Ivy and crawlers strangled the rusted gate and hung lazily over the brick perimeter wall. Wind whistled through cracks in the balcony windows.  _Goodbye, Katherine,_  the professor's voice floated through the breeze.

Kitty collapsed onto the bed. "Goodbye, Professor."


	5. Chapter 5

Kurt was sitting on the steps when a dazed Kitty wandered downstairs. "So, he's really gone then?"

Kitty collapsed in a heap on the stair beside him. "You knew?"

"He told me he he didn't have much longer. He was getting his affairs in order; you must have been last on his list. I didn't think telling you down here would make things any less complicated or weird."

The two watched the grey dawn shamble its way down the wall as the morning came.

"I met Logan once, after the school closed. Ran into him in Japan."

Kurt cocked his head. "Japan?"

She nodded. "International robotics competition. For school. I like it there. He told me the X-Men were dead. I suppose I should have known he was being dramatic, but I didn't know who was still around. They didn't tell us much. I was worried you were, well. You know."

Kurt stood up. "Our last mission together, it went badly. Very badly. Hank, Storm, Pete, they were... lost."

Kitty looked up in horror at him, a new palor in her face. "Oh god, Kurt."

His lips were thin. "They had to stay behind to save the rest of us. Logan didn't like it. So he was the first to leave. Then I went home to see my mother."

"That's right. You had a baby sister. How is she?"

"She's well," his face brightened. "I left home a long again a long while ago, but we would write. I was planning on joining up with those Avenger people after the tragedy in Sokovia, but then the government wanted to put them on a list. I think we both know that wouldn't have suited me given my... state," he said gesturing to his blue fur. "It was for the best anyway. My mother was away from home a lot working on another of her projects, so we moved Anna here to the States with me. She's staying with some friends while I take of things here."

"Is she a mutant yet?"

"Yes, and that's what I was hoping the Professor had contacted me for. She's having a hard time of it, needs proper training. But without him, I don't think that's possible anymore."

"Kurt, he left it to me." She stood and placed his large, three fingered hand in hers. "The mansion, the school, the X-Men. He wants me to start it all again."

Kurt was silent for a moment. "He wants _us_  to start it again. He told me that you would need my help, but he didn't say what I was helping you with."

"So, you would help? Because, like, I already said yes, and -"

The fuzzy blue mutant took both her hands and shook her up and down, grinning widely. "Of course I will help!" In a puff of smoke he disappeared, and then reappeared on the landing behind her.

"The X-Men will begin anew!"

He teleported to the top of a light fixture in the hall. "This will become a place where all mutants can come to learn!"

He reappeared in front of Kitty. "Now, what exactly can we teach between the two of us?"

She laughed. As a girl Kurt could always cheer her up, once she warmed up to him. "I don't have all the answers yet. I just found out I inherited the safety of an entire race, and I haven't even had coffee yet. Why don't we see if the professor's illusion stretched into the kitchen, then we can talk textbooks."

"Ah, good idea Katzchen. We need to get breakfast ready. I had nearly forgotten; the children will be waking up soon."

Kitty blankly regarded him.

"What children?"

No sooner did Kurt start to elaborate than they heard a sound at the top of the stairs. A girl, mid teens with short red hair, was looking at them from the landing. "He's gone, isn't he? The old man? I don't feel him anymore."

Kurt clenched his teeth when he saw the look Kitty sent him.

"Coffee first."

* * *

 

The three sat over bowls of cereal in silence for a few minutes. Kurt had introduced the girl as Rachel, and she hadn't stopped staring at Kitty since they arrived in the kitchen. He explained that a group of teenagers had begun arriving at the mansion over the last week or so. Rachel had been there for a few days when he arrived. Turns out they were all waiting for Kitty to get there, though Xavier hadn't been specific as to why.

"So you and Mr. Wagner are our teachers?" she asked between bites. "What do you teach?"

"Yeah we're working on that," Kitty stuck her nose deep into her mug, letting the strong aroma give her the energy to deal with... all this.

"You have a very interesting energy," Rachel said unblinking as she brought another spoonful to her mouth. "Reminds me of-"

"Um, excuse me?"

The voice came from an Asian girl standing in the doorway. She was standing alongside a tall boy with dreadlocks.

"We woke up and everything looked more depressing than when we went to bed," the boy said.

"I don't think I like it," the girl added.

" _Guten Morgen!_  Are you hungry?" Kurt said cheerfully. "We have cereal, and there are still a few bagels left. You can grab more chairs from the dining room."

Kurt went the shopping for the kids as soon as he arrived. He had been running the abandoned school a bit like a summer camp counselor. The way he saw it, the cheerier he was the less worried the children would be.

"Sure... Hisako?"

"Works. We'll grab some for the others too."

"Kurt, did you ever read  _The Hobbit_?" Kitty murmured to her friend.

"No, why?"

"No reason," she went back to her breakfast. More and more strangers kept wandering into her life. Perhaps she should be more proactive.

"So, how many of you kids are there?" She asked the boy when he and Hisako returned.

"Uh, I think five in total. How many were you expecting?"

"That's a loaded question," she laughed dryly. "Five. I can work with five."

Rachel turned towards the doorway. "Someone else is in the den. She's frightened."

Kitty and Kurt looked at one another, and then hurried to the den. Huddled behind a sofa was another redheaded girl. Her skin was like a mirror, silver and reflective. Little rivulets of the silver pooled out from her waist and feet where she touched the ground.

"Hi," Kitty said softly. "How long have you been out here?"

"I couldn't sleep," the girl said meekly. "So I came down. I just got here yesterday, the man upstairs told me I could stay. My parents don't know I'm here."

Kitty's blood momentarily heated, but there was a time and place.

"Have you eaten yet?" Kurt asked.

She glanced up at him and then looked back at Kitty. "I... don't think I  _do_  eat anymore. I haven't felt hungry in ages."

"Okay then. Why don't you have a seat? We'll pull this wrap off the couches. Kurt, can you get the others in here after they finish eating? We'll have our orientation in here."

* * *

About a half hour later, the six of them were seated in the den. Fortunately, the electricity was still working in the building even after the professor's passing.

"Okay, four, five, and I make six," Kitty frowned. "Where's...?"

The sound of heavy footfalls answered her question, as an older girl tromped down the stairs and into the den. Her hair was long and glossy black, straight but matted from bedhead.

"Ah. Seven. Grab a bagel and have a seat, you're just in time."

She wordlessly moved to the kitchen.

"Cool. Well, welcome everyone. I'm not sure how much you all have been told."

"He said I was a mutant," Hisako interjected.

"And that some super hero team used to live here. Are we super heroes now?" The boy asked.

"Where is he, the man upstairs?" asked the metallic girl.

Kitty sat down next to Kurt. "He's... passed away. In fact, I think he passed a while before any of us got here."

"So he was a ghost?" squeaked the boy.

"More like a psychic remnant. A physical memory," the answer came from Rachel. She turned to Kitty. "He must have had a very powerful mind."

"Charles Xavier had the most powerful mind on the planet," she said, regaining the children's attention. "And at some point he got it in that mind that the seven of us needed to come together."

The last girl returned with a bagel and some jelly on a plate, then took a seat in an armchair between Rachel and Hisako.

"You're supposed to teach us about our mutations?" She asked. Her voice carried a light Hispanic accent.

"Well yes," Kitty supposed. "So to that end... the first thing I'm going to teach you, is about the X-Men."


	6. Chapter 6

"Mutation is the key to our evolution. It's how we have evolved from a single-celled organism into the dominant species on the planet. Stop me if you've heard any of this before."

She paused to read the audience. Kurt gave her a thumbs up for encouragement.

"This process is slow, normally taking thousands and thousands of years. But every few hundred millennia, evolution leaps forward. There are some who believe that mutants are this leap, that we will one day replace humanity, that we're already superior to them. Personally, I think that's a lot to ask of a bunch of people your age."

"I've never heard of mutants before," Hisako said. "I just started noticing weird things happening to me for the last couple months. Then I discovered I had powers."

"Mutations usually arise around puberty," Kitty answered. This was basic stuff she learned in her first year at the school. "But it can happen early or late, occur quickly or take a long time. I learned I was a mutant when I was eleven, but you all seemed to have manifested powers much later."

"I was thirteen," Rachel said.

"Regardless," Kitty interjected, "humans and mutants are different. And with difference comes conflict. Eventually to quell that conflict the professor had to wipe everyone's memory of mutantkind. But before that, he had a team. The X-Men. A group who would fight for the mutants and use their powers to protect the world, even if it feared them. The professor's dream was for humankind and mutantkind to coexist. Mr. Wagner here used to be part of that team."

If Kurt wasn't blue he would have blushed.

"What about you Ms. Pryde?" the boy asked. "Were you an X-Man?"

"Hardly. I was only 12 when the school closed. But I wanted to be. More than most. Not gonna lie, this isn't exactly how I pictured that going. But I made a promise to him, and I'm going to keep it. So let's get to know each other. Going around in a circle, tell us your name, what you can do. Give us a demonstration if you're comfortable with it - and if it won't blow up the house."

She stood. "I'll start. My name is Katherine, but you can call me Kitty. I can turn my body intangible for as long as I can hold my breath." She stepped backwards and walked through the sofa, generating a few 'oohs.' "The X-Men rescued me as a girl from an evil mutant."

"More like you rescued us," Kurt laughed.

Kitty pointed at Rachel. "You go next."

She stood, and a pillow from the couch began lazily orbiting her head. "My name is Rachel, and I'm telekinetic. I move things with my mind. I can do a little telepathy, but I can only see people think. I'm garbage at reading what those thoughts actually are."

"Holy crap," Kitty exclaimed, "why didn't I see it before? The red hair, the psychic powers; are you Jean's kid?"

The girl seemed surprised, but nodded. "Yes, my parents were Phoenix and Cyclops, two of the original X-Men. I inherited my mother's psychic powers."

"That's so nice!" Kurt clapped. "I'm happy for Scott. How are they? I thought they would be here."

Rachel looked down. "I don't know where they are. Mother disappeared years ago, after Thor fought that red swirly thing in England. Dad left to go look for her not long after. I haven't seen either since. I've been living with my Uncle Alex since then. He didn't really approve of what my parents used to do, but he let me go when I heard from the professor."

"Oh little one, I'm so sorry," Kurt offered. "Being separated from your family can be hard. I spent much of my youth in the circus."

"Crazy. I had no idea Jean was pregnant when she left the school," Kitty marveled. "So I guess you knew all about that stuff I said earlier. Anyone else a secret X-Baby I should know about?"

The girl with the messy hair stood up and flexed her arm. With a clicking  _snikt_  sound a pair of metal claws the length of swords popped from her knuckles.

"Jesus Christ," Kitty whispered.

"My name is Laura Kinney. I have a healing factor that lets me recover from any injury, as well as heightened senses. I was created by scientists who wanted to clone the Wolverine, but he saved me."

"Wow that's... wow," Kitty could hardly find the words. "Since I'm guessing none of you know, Wolverine was another X-Man. He was a hard, ill-tempered and violent man."

"And one of our best friends," Kurt finished.

"Damn straight."

"And he's dead," Laura stated matter-of-factly.

"Excuse me?" Kurt's head wheeled around. Dead?"

"Yes. And so in his memory I must become the Wolverine."

"Back up, back up. No way," Kitty said flatly. "You can't kill the Wolverine. That's literally not how his power works."

"Well I buried him with my own hands," Laura said bitterly. "So who what does that mean?"

"It means he'll be even angrier when he digs his way out!"

"Look lady. I-"

Nightcrawler jumped between the two. "Kitty, a word please."

The two went out into the hall beyond the den.

"I thought Wolverine had three claws," Rachel said when they had gone.

"The other pair is in my feet," Laura said with a bit of pride.

* * *

"Kurt I'm not ready for this."

"Kitty-"

"I thought when the professor wanted me back it was because some extremist was planning to blow up a mutant orphanage or something, and me and you and Storm and Logan were gonna go punch people until it was all better."

"Kitty I-"

"But now I'm here, and the others are dead, and I don't know how to handle any of this-"

"Kitty I know!"

She froze. Kurt leaned in close.

"Logan was the last one unaccounted for. If he's gone than I'm the last one. And that scares me. But we have to be strong for those kids in there, even if we're scared. Because even if I'm the only one left I  _am_  here. And I'm going to make sure I'm not the last X-Man."

* * *

The two reemerged to find the children huddled together. Kitty was surprised to see Lockheed lying on the end table, the little dragon clearly loving the attention.

"He was scratching at the window," the silver girl said as they walked up. "He looks like a dragon!"

"That's because he is a dragon. Lockheed and I have been friends for... a long time. But where did we leave off?"

"Um, kind of a tough act to follow, but I'll go next," Hisako said. As they took their seats again Lockheed curled up in Kitty's lap. She caught Laura giving her a dark look out of the corner of her eye.

"I'm Hisako Ichiki. I came to the United States after I figured out I could do this." She stood and willed a blue translucent field of armor around herself. One day about a month ago my mom remembered something about a school for people like me in New York. I didn't know she knew anything about New York."

Kurt steepled his fingers. "Sounds like the Professor acted through your mother's mind rather than yours. Interesting. What about you,  _Fraulein_?"

The metallic girl bowed her head. "Sorry about your dad, Laura."

Laura nodded. "Thanks."

"I-I'm Cecily. My body turned into this... shiny stuff. I can't always keep it solid and so sometimes I sort of droop," and as if in demonstration she began to melt into the sofa. She started sniffling.

"Hey hey, don't be upset," Kitty comforted. "Physical mutations can be difficult to get the hang of. Yours can be quite powerful with training."

"My parents wouldn't let me leave my room when it happened. I snuck out after I heard from Mr. Xavier in my dreams."

"There's still a lot of prejudice in the world," Kurt sighed.

"That pisses me off," Kitty grumbled to herself.

The boy stood now. "I'm Christopher. You can call me Chris. I can heal. Not like Laura, I heal other people with my touch. One day I scraped my knee on my bike, went to touch it and boom - no scrape. I don't know how to demonstrate that exactly, unless anyone has a paper cut I can look at."

"No need, Chris," Kurt said. "Lastly, I am Kurt Wagner!"

With a burst of smoke he was gone, and in another he was on the other side of the den. "I can teleport! And I have a tail! When I was with the X-Men my codename was Nightcrawler, which you are welcome to call me."

All the children, save for Cecily, clapped at the display.

"And with that, we've all met," Kitty offered brightly. "These are your classmates, get to know them better. Next I think we'll do a quick tour. Has anyone seen the library?"

Kitty had to fish around the professor's office for the keys to much of the house. They took the kids to see the library, the gym in the basement, the theater. Later Kitty would discover a wine cellar down there too.

By the afternoon, they had seen the whole above ground of the house and the back yard. Kurt and the kids were getting ready for dinner, when the doorbell rang.

"One second! Kitty shouted as she ran for the front door. She opened it to find a blonde woman waiting on the step.

"I need to speak to the professor. We used to work together."


	7. Chapter 7

_ Isla Sinistra _

"I have news, where is he?" The aide spoke into his walkie-talkie.

"In the sculpture garden," the device crackled back.

"How is he, is he good?"

"How the hell am I supposed to know? He's as "good" as he's been for five years."

_Ugh_ , he groaned. He had drawn the short straw and was now in charge of relaying the bad news to the boss. He headed down the main lawn of the compound towards the gardens. The sun had barely risen but the air was already hot and humid. Working a private sector gig on a tropical island seemed like a dream at the time, but any more the grounds seemed more like a military instillation. Essex Corporation had employed various private security companies over the last few years; now it was as if Mr. Essex had his own small army. It had to do with his crazed experiments in Ireland, the aide was sure of that, but he wasn't sure how or why.

He tensed up as he reached the sculpture garden. At the front was a black humanoid form, lying on its side. One arm reached up, fingers clasping at the sky. The other one wrenched into the ground as if trying to crawl away. A pair of eyes, wide with fear, stared at the aide from the face of the statue.

"Hello James," he said sadly. Beyond James was a macabre field of Essex's other 'statues;' some were black like James, others alabaster white, still others bright shocks of sapphire and ruby punctuating the scene. All were twisted in agony: pounding on invisible windows, tugging at phantom pantlegs, straining against straps of unseen chairs. At the center of the garden, pondering a jade green man frozen in the middle of a haymaker now directed at his face, was the collection's dubious curator.

"Mr. Essex," he called, his voice faltering mid phrase. He turned, peering at the aide from under dark eyebrows.

"Has the Texas team reported back?"

"No sir, but we've located them. Picked up by San Antonio police three days ago. The target escaped."

They stood in silence for what felt like an eternity. "A pity," he muttered. "But there will be other subjects. We have the technology to find them now."

"O-oh," the aide said, a wave of relief washing over him. "Then I will just be going back to the comms tower."

"Yes, yes of course," Essex rumbled. He continued his stroll through the garden.

"We've nearly cracked it, you know." he said to an older man with glasses, locked into a premature thumbs up where he sat. "Hiding under my nose the whole time. I suppose I can tell you how. You look you can keep a secret."

He took a seat on the back of a statue lying prone on the ground, dusting it off with his hand first. "Mutations work like switches. These ones do, anyway. And to control these switches, you need willpower. Brain power. So, there was really only one thing to do." He laughed and slapped the old man on the back. "I finally found one. A mutant psychic."

* * *

Agent Blaire had a bad feeling as she walked up the ruined drive of the mansion. Why would Xavier let the house get this bad?

She was surprised when she heard a female voice answer her knock.

A young woman with brown hair opened the door. "Hello, welcome to the Xavier Institute for Gifted Youngsters, please pardon our dust, we're... undergoing some renovations."

"I can see that," Blaire said looking around. "I need to speak to the professor. We used to work together. Tell him... tell him Dazzler is here to see him."

The woman looked at her. "You should come inside."

* * *

"Gone? My god, that's terrible. My sympathies, Ms. Pryde." The two were sitting in the professor's office downstairs.

"Thanks, it's still pretty fresh. I just arrived today, and it's been non-stop since sunrise."

"Well I didn't want to dump something else on you, but I was hoping the professor could help me out."

She produced a thin file folder. "Interpol has suspected billionaire Nathan Essex of human experimentation and bioweapons development for three years. He surfaced in San Antonio four days ago touting a new method of enhancing human ability."

Inside the folder were some papers, and a photo of the man with the black arm from the conference. "He's uncovered the X-Gene. I was pretty sure before, but I'm certain after they tried to abduct me."

Kitty arced her eyebrow at the woman.

"They had shock weapons, but no guns. They weren't trying to kill me, because they didn't know I was FBI. Somehow they knew-" she illuminated her hand "-that I was a mutant."

Kitty sighed. "I would love to help Agent Blaire, but it's just me and Nightcrawler now. The other students, they're practically kids. And they just got here. Even if they could go on missions I wouldn't ask them to on their first day."

"Yeah, that's what I figured," Blaire said. "But something has to be done. If there are no more X-Men, I'll have to bring in the FBI on this."

"You can't tell them about the school," Kitty said urgently. "I have these students to look out for now. You know what they'll do the them."

"I don't have to involve them," Blaire assured her. "It's going to be an awkward conversation, but my SHIELD cred will make most of it believable. And this Essex business changes things. Kidnapping people, even mutants, is a serious matter."

"Agreed." Kitty looked at the elevator behind her desk. "You know, Xavier warned that something like this would happen. It's why he brought the students here. So maybe there's something we can do."

"I'll tell you what," Agent Blaire said as she stood. "Take this phone, it's a clean and secure line to me. I'll start canvassing Essex locations for signs of captive mutants and keep you updated."

"Sounds like a good deal. I can brainstorm some ideas in the meantime. Right now, I need a bed."

"Very well. I'll leave you too it." As she exited she noticed a few of the students climbing the stairs. "A little older than most mutants start, aren't they?"

"By a few years. Xavier thought that the X-Gene was stalled when you all pulled the mind-whammy. As his power faded it started back up again."

"Oh," she chuckled. "Don't put that on me. I have no idea what those three did in here."

* * *

Alison held the bridge of her nose as she walked back to her car. She was hoping for allies in the fight against Essex, but these people had enough issues. So it was down to her, and the Bureau. Superhuman threats were old hat at this point, maybe she could get through the case without exposing everyone. But things hadn't been going well so far.

Kitty opened the door to her room. Not the master suite, where she supposed she was meant to sleep now. Her old room, the room she slept in as a girl. She had to step up and lead a group of teens she had never met. But first she had to sleep. And after the day she had, even a twin bunk bed would do the trick.


	8. Chapter 8

Rachel wandered the library while she waited for her laundry to finish. Kitty had left two days ago to make arrangements for her things to be moved from Chicago. The students had been helping Nightcrawler clean up the house in the meantime. In her mind's eye she watched psychic energies flicker across the spines of books and nestle in chairs. These were places people spent a lot of time, or had a particular attachment to.

She was brought back to earth by a voice. "What are you doing in her Rachel?" It was Cecily, a basket of socks in her reflective arms.

"I'm following the energy trails. Everywhere in this mansion is ringing with mental echoes, remnants of memories. Stuff left behind by the people who lived here years ago. Some are from my parents."

"What does their energy... look like? I heard you talking about it before, like colors."

She saw the colors everywhere she went. The trip from the airport through New York had been feverishly bright. So many minds projecting so much.

The two walked into the laundry room so Rachel could start loading the dryer. "I don't know. My powers manifested after they left, so I've never seen theirs. But they must be here, if I look hard enough. I imagine my dad's is like my uncle's - sturdy, but not showy. And my mother's, well it must be like my own."

Laura came down with her towels now. Evidently she had heard some of the conversation. "What about me. What does my energy look like?"

The younger girl squinted. "There's a light, like a heat, but also a darkness. There's a depth to it I don't see in a lot of people. But I don't have to see your thoughts to know you're carrying a heavy burden. You think about him often don't you?"

"Mm. Especially since Kitty and I went at it. That woman thinks she knows my father more than I do. She's-"

"Coming up the driveway now," Rachel interrupted.

"That's never not going to be weird."

The three went about their business for a few minutes, and then the headmistress's head poked in the doorway. "Um, I'm back! Anyone seen Mr. Wagner?"

"Oh, he's out back with Christopher and Hisako raking up the baseball field," Cecily offered. Laura didn't look up from her machine.

* * *

Kitty passed the two teens on their way in for a water break as she crossed the back yard. A rough path had been mowed in the lawn down to the baseball diamond. Kurt was there leaning on a rake, taking in the work.

"It looks good!" She called. He turned and grinned.

"Welcome back Katzchen! I thought it might be nice to get this back in working order. It's only the most important part of the school!"

"I think we're a few mutants short of a little league team, but yes, it would be strange without the old field, eh?"

"I don't know," and with a few puffs he flurried across the field and back. "What if I just played all the outfield positions?"

"I think," she paused. "That there's one more part of the school we need to show the students."

"Oh," he ported back to her. "You're quite right. And one particular part  _I've_  been patiently waiting to see as well."

Kitty laughed. "Then we had better get down there. You get Chris and Hisako, I'll grab Cecily and the other girls from the laundry."

"That's a good idea," Kurt said, looking a little glum. "I don't think Cecily likes me."

Kitty stopped where she was walking. "Why do you say that?"

"Well, despite my charming demeanor my appearance has never made a good first impression. She's afraid of me."

"I think she's scared of what's happening to herself. Let me talk to her. She'll warm up to you."

"You think so?"

"Definitely. For once, I know exactly what to say."

* * *

About ten minutes later everyone piked into the elevator behind the professor's office. Lockheed was perched on Kitty's shoulder. Kurt ran his thumb across the glass underneath the button panel and illuminated a hidden line, 'Sub Basement 2.'

"So. Has everyone spoken to their parents or guardians?"

"Everyone except me," Cecily said shyly as a wave of nods went around the small room.

"It might be better if one of us talks to them in person. In fact, I'd like to meet all of them eventually, maybe after we get this place cleaned up."

"Uh, we're still going down," Chris observed. "Shouldn't we have gotten to the basement by now?"

"We're not going to the basement Christopher," Nightcrawler explained. "We're going  _under_  the basement"

"Specifically, Sublevel 2," Kitty added. Sublevel 1 is mainly access tunnels for maintenance and computer servers. You didn't think a superhero team kept all their stuff in a big old house, did you?"

"Weren't you younger than us when you went to school here? How do you know so much?" Hisako asked.

"I met the X-Men under unusual circumstances. Not something I'd recommend. Plus I've always had a thing for tech. So Doctor McCoy showed me around. He knew how all of this stuff worked, which is why I hope it still  _does_  work, or we'll have an issue."

After what felt like a long while the elevator stopped, and all four doors opened out to a circular room. Unlike the mansion above, this whole floor was very clean and metallic. Florescent lights nestled in the corners of the ceilings bathed the halls with a bright, sterile light. Chris thought that the place looked like the inside of a spaceship.

"Welcome to X-Men headquarters," Kitty announced. The teens looked around in awe as they exited the elevator; Kitty didn't feel much different. For years she had wished she could see these corridors again. "Upstairs is where you'll live and play. But down here is where we'll do most of our work. Mastering your mutant abilities will help you cope once you've left the school."

"But first, who wants a tour?" Nightcrawler jumped in. "I was planning on starting with the hangar."

"You have a plane?" Hisako asked, perking up.

"Oh boy do we! It's here in the eastern hall."

Rachel looked towards a corridor leading off to the northwest. "I don't feel anything down that way. Where does it lead?"

"That's Cerebro. It's what the professor used to locate mutants across the globe. Actually, as our new psychic you ought to go see it. Kurt, take the others to see the Blackbird. I'll take Rachel for a sec."

The hall was long. At the end Rachel could see only a dark sphere, no colors, no light. Kitty stopped at a round door. "Professor? It's me, Kitty. I brought Jean's girl."

The  _kachunk_  of a series of locks deactivating could be heard, and the door slid open. "Voice activation?" Rachel turned to Kitty.

"I'm not sure. He said he had made arrangements."

The room was a massive sphere. A narrow catwalk, scarcely wide enough for the two of them to cross, lead out to the center where a small console sat.

Rachel was surprised to feel a ton of latent psychic energy. "Amazing," she realized. "The whole room is impermeable to thought. What's it made of?"

"Don't know. It might not even come from Earth. It helped him focus."

"I can feel his energy all over the room. And another. Did... did my mom come in here?"

"I suppose she could have. She had telepathic abilities as well."

Rachel felt a small thrill. This had to be what she was looking for: the connection to her mother she had craved for years. She tried to concentrate on the second energy, but something felt off.

"Would you like to try it out?" Kitty picked up a peculiar headset from the console and offered it to the girl. "Your control of Cerebro will be a good metric as to your control of your telepathy."

Rachel decided to table the issue for now and placed the headset on her head. A low hum filled the sphere as the lights dimmed. Then all at once the room exploded in color. They formed the shapes of continents, but backwards, as if the glove had been turned inside out so you could stand inside of it.

"So much," she breathed. So many minds. So many  _thoughts_!"

"Is this what you see all the time?" Kitty breathed.

"Sort of. If I focus on someone for even a few seconds I stop seeing them and start seeing their brainwaves. Ever since I turned thirteen."

"The professor could supposedly find any person on Earth with Cerebro - or was more often the case, any mutant. That's how he found me as a child, and I imagine that's he found all of you as well. The mind of a freshly awakened mutant shines like a star in Cerebro."

"So if I learn to control it, I could see them too?"

"I think that's the idea. C'mon. Let's go join the others."


	9. Chapter 9

Kurt and company stepped through a door and into a large room. There were two floors, but the ceiling went up until you couldn't see it in the darkness. Toolboxes and machinery lay on tables all around. And in the center was an aircraft, black and red, sitting low like a cat primed to pounce.

Nightcrawler made a grandiose gesture at the plane. "There she is! As good-looking as the day I left her! Ladies and Gentlemen, the pride of the X-Men: The Blackbird!"

Laura had never seen such a big smile on the fuzzy mutant's face - and he had been excessively cheerful since he got here.

"A spy plane from the 60's modified for personnel transport, the Blackbird is fast, quiet, and  _mein Gott_  is she fun to fly."

The students proceeded to board the aircraft as Nightcrawler gushed about classic aviation and the controls. When he was through they moved into the locker rooms.

"This is where the X-Men dressed for missions. Students have their own lockers on the other side of the elevator. This is the ladies' side, Christopher you'll be across that partition there."

Beyond that room was a machine the size of its entire chamber. "This is our fabricator," Kurt explained. "We use it to make tools and costumes to meet specifications of each mutant's unique physiology."

"Do we get costumes?" Chris asked, "And cool codenames like yours?"

"Not on your first day, Mr. Muse," Kitty said, as she and Rachel rejoined the group. "We have to see what you all can do first. This way."

"What did I miss?" Rachel whispered to Hisako as they moved through the medical bay.

"Big plane. Mr. Wagner is very proud of it. What about you, what was Cerebro like?"

"It's enormous. I still have much to learn about my powers."

They had looped back around to the elevator room, and now headed down the final corridor. Kitty motioned for them to stop and she phased through the wall for a moment. When she emerged she looked satisfied.

"Okay, in the rooms up ahead you'll find student uniforms. Get changed, and I'll show you the Danger Room."

"Um, why is it called the Danger Room?" Cecily asked.

Kitty only smiled.

* * *

The five students plus Nightcrawler found themselves looking into a gigantic white room. It was circular in shape, but it looked like an endless white void. All were dressed in black and yellow jackets and sweat pants.

"This is the Danger Room," Kitty's voice could be heard from all around. "A state-of-the-art hardlight simulator. It can replicate any environment. It's going to be your very best friend the next several weeks."

Kitty was seated in a control room on the next floor, overlooking the astonished teens. Somewhat hilariously, the technological marvel before her ran on cartridges, which she and Lockheed were now sifting through searching for a simulation that wouldn't traumatize the rookie students. Lockheed briefly paused at a cartridge labeled "Deerfield Incident," but put it aside.

"Ha! This one looks promising."

A curtain of stars swept over the ceiling of the Danger Room as rows of rustic buildings loaded into the scene. They were in a small walled city of sloped wood roofs and porches.

"Is this... ancient Japan?" Hisako wondered aloud.

"Day one: team building. Your goal is to watch one another's backs and protect the circle you're standing in. Your opponents are ninja - masters of stealth. So keep your eyes peeled!"

"Oh Katzchen, this is very good!" Kurt approved.

"Is this a test?" Chris' face was pale. "Because I didn't study."

"No worries Christopher," his instructor said. "This is just to gauge your abilities under pressure. We'll keep you safe."

And with that he teleported away.

Cecily suddenly yelped as a shuriken slooshed through her shoulder. She collapsed up to her neck into a silver puddle of clothes. Laura unsheathed her claws and ran out of the circle with a snarl. Hisako willed her armor to life. "Rachel, can you get a read on any of them?

"Give me a moment, I ought to be able to find the one who hit Cecily."

Chris knelt down to Cecily. "Are you hurt?"

"I don't think so," she said hoarsely. Nightcrawler burst in behind her and she puddled again with an "Eep!"

"We're surrounded!" The blue X-Man reported.

* * *

The shinobi fizzled out as Laura sank her claws through his chest.  _Holograms_ , she thought. She could really cut loose here. She would run forward and take out the ninjas before they even saw the circle.

With a whistle an arrow embedded itself into her forearm. Or rather, it only  _felt_  like it did. Upon closer inspection, she realized that the arrow had evaporated up to where it now "stuck out of" the limb.

_"I'm taking your healing factor into consideration,"_  Kitty's voice crackled from her belt.  _"But just because the danger is simulated doesn't mean you should test your limits. The risk is very real."_

She pulled the arrow from her arm, only for two more to surge from the gloom. These ones were attached to lengths of rope. Laura dodged one and then grabbed the other, yanking hard to reel in the archer.

"Laura," came the voice of Nightcrawler from the roof above, "Are you okay? You shouldn't run off!"

"I'm the only one who can! Healing factor, remember?" She cut through another rope-arrow.

_Mein Gott it's Logan all over again,_  he thought, teleporting down. "It's only training, Laura. We don't need heroes on the first mission."

"This isn't my first mission Mr. Wagner. I've been fighting my whole life."

* * *

"I've never been in a fight before!" Chris shouted. Rachel had tossed him a quarter staff left by one of the several ninja she and Hisako had beaten down.

"Neither have I, but it seems like hitting the bad guys seems to be effective," Rachel called back as she used her telekenesis to propel anything she could find at the waves of hooded men. Chris looked at the length of wood in his hand and swung it like a bat, striking the first ninja square in the head.

"Yeah! Awesome!" Chris cried, but suddenly a knife flew from the shadows and hit him in the back. He fell to the ground, his suit constriciting around him.

_"Muse, you've been stabbed. You'd be bleeding out right now. Stay down until the round is over."_

"Chris is down," Hisako called out. "Where's Mr. Wagner and Laura?"

"I can't concentrate!" Rachel shouted. She squeezed her eyes shut and reached out with her mind. The colors were swirling out of control.

Kitty's voice cut in and out of the girl's suit.  _"Ra-el! It's onl- a si-lation! Cal- -own!"_

"Gyahh!" She screamed in pain. Windows shattered across the street. Suddenly everything faded to white. Chris and Cecily got up. Nightcrawler hopped down from the dissolving roof he was perched on. A little further up a scowling Laura lay prone, countless digital arrows sticking from her like a pincushion.

"Okay everyone," Kitty appeared from an unseen doorway. "I may have overdone it a bit. Is Rachel alright?"

Chris placed his hand on the girl's back. It crackled with a golden light. "How do you feel?"

"Okay now. I just got overwhelmed."

Kitty nodded. "That was still really good for your first time in the Danger Room, all of you. Mr. Wagner and I will be around with feedback."

"M-Ms. Pryde,?" Cecily Stammered.

"Yes Cecily?"

"Are we supposed to fight people? Real people?"

Laura rejoined the group. "What do you mean? Of course we are. The X-Men are the first line of defense for mutants against threats to their safety."

"Well it's just... I don't think I can do that. We all came here because we discovered these powers, and I know we need to be able to control them, but I don't want to hurt people."

Everyone looked at Kitty. She thought for a moment. "Hurting people... is never the goal. But sometimes there are people who want to hurt  _you_. Lots of people, humans and mutants alike. It's a secret war you really don't deserve to be dragged into, but Charles Xavier picked the five of you for this task, and he did it for a reason. Now, you can opt out at any time. This isn't a an army and you haven't been drafted. The moment you feel uncomfortable you let me or Kurt know. But I've wanted this my whole life. So I will do it even if I have to do it alone."

The students were quiet. After a moment Kurt broke the silence. "Come children, you must all be hungry."


	10. Chapter 10

The group was awkwardly quiet until dinner started. Chris grabbed his plate took a seat next to Kitty. "Ms Pryde?" He said quietly.

"What is it Chris?" This was the first time a student had spoken to her since the Danger Room.

"You've mentioned a couple times that there are evil mutants? What did they do?"

"Used to be there were a lot of mutants who saw themselves as the new version of humanity. And like with computers or phones, once the new version comes out the old version is obsolete. They were mutant supremacists, they wanted to conquer humanity rather than fit in with them."

Kurt chimed in, his ears having picked up the conversation. "And the worst of the bunch was a man called Magneto. He was known as the Master of Magnetism, after his mutant power over metal."

"People were scared of a guy calling himself the Master of Magnetism?" Chris asked incredulously.

"Oh he gave them good reason to! Magneto lead a brotherhood of mutants that caused a lot of damage in their day."

"Are they still out there? If everyone forgot about mutants they could have done even more damage right?"

"Magneto disappeared along with many of my comrades. I suppose the Brotherhood disbanded without their leader. A sad story overall. Despite his ill will towards the humans he always had mutants' best interests at heart."

"Which is more than I can say about some mutants," Kitty continued. "Some are willing to turn a blind eye to the plight of their people if they could turn a profit off of it. That's actually how I first met the X-Men..."

"They had been captured by the Hellfire Club, a group of scummy socialites who were hoping to press a few mutants into their services. They wanted to sell mutant deterrents to the governments of the world, even if they had to drum up the threats that needed deterring themselves. That's where  _she_  came in. The White Queen. A low-level psychic, I later learned, who specialized in torture."

* * *

_Kurt woke up in a cage, stripped of most of his clothing. A high buzzing droned through his ears from the pink light inside his cage. He looked around._

_Jean, and Scott were in cages of their own, a thin veil of similar pink light draped around each. An empty cage sat beyond them. They were in a dark, damp room, possibly underground. The walls and floor were mad of concrete. Neglected rows of halogen bulbs lit the areas outside the cages. Two metal doors separated their room from the rest of the building._

_"Ah, the furball awakens," he heard a voice slink from the doorway. And through it came the woman who had attacked them earlier that day at the Pryde house. Her silver lips were curled into a grin._

_"Guten Abend," he managed despite the pain in his head. "To what do I owe this visit from the White Queen?"_

_"Oh please, we can drop the childish code names 'Nightcrawler.' Call me Emma."_

_"Well then_  Emma,  _your lodging arrangements leave much to be desired."_

_"Mm. Logan thought so too, which is why I took him into the next room to get more... comfortable."_

_"You'll find that the Wolverine can handle rather a lot more torture than your used to. Are you sure you wanted to start with him? I'm plenty more squeemish."_

_"I'm sure there's plenty of juicy thoughts in your head just waiting for me to crack it open," Frost purred, "but the Club requires a certain... killer instinct. And we both know Logan has that in spades. So why don't you sit your handsome self down and enjoy my hospitality."_

_"Why can't I teleport out of this cage to accept your hospitality more directly?"_

_"Psionic shields, Mr. Wagner. They're there to keep your mind to distracted to use your mutant abilities. Combine that with the sedatives I've given your lady friend and you won't be going anywhere I'm afraid."_

_"Ah. That makes sense." Kurt said, leaning back with a satisfied look on his face._

_"...What does that mean?" Emma asked, not expecting the response."_

_He smirked. "You are psychic, no? Then no doubt you have sensed the power within Phoenix's mind. You are right to fear it."_

_"Fear is something the Hellfire club sells, not something it buys," she spat with a hint of venom._

_"Then why drug the poor girl? What are you anticipating when the second most powerful psychic in the world wakes up? Why don't we wake her right now?"_

_"Because we're not. Ready. For her. Yet. Now, if you excuse me, I have another fuzzball who just regained consciousness and needs my attention."_

_She turned on her heel and stalked out the door._

_"Is she gone?"_

_Nightcrawler turned around to see a small brown-haired head sticking out of the floor._

* * *

"Chris? Chris?" The boy snapped back to reality. The students were sitting in the lounge on the second floor. "You were pretty spaced out," Hisako said.

"Guys, do we want to be superheroes?" Chris asked bluntly.

They all looked around at each other.

"I just mean, there's a lot of bad people out there. Maybe there should be more good... people."

Laura arced her eyebrow. "Spoken like someone who's already decided."

Chris laughed dryly. "And what about you, Little Miss Wolverine? You want to follow in your father's footsteps right?"

" _Sí._  The scientists beat a lot of hate into me. So we beat the hate out of them. Sometimes it's the only way."

"I don't want to hurt people," Cecily piped up, "but maybe I do want to help them."

"Plus we can wear costumes like Captain America and Thor!" Chris added.

"I don't think Thor's outfit is a costume. I think he just dresses like that," Hisako said.

"I don't think you'd wear anything like Thor with those arms," Laura teased.

Rachel tilted her head. "What about Hawkeye?"

"What  _about_  Hawkeye?" All three responded.

"Oh be nice," Kitty said as she entered the room. "Not all of us can fly or are kings of our own countries - or have healing hands, in your case, Chris. Cecily, can I speak with you for a moment?"

The girl looked at her friends and sagged a bit, but walked further down into the stairwell with Kitty.

"First day, already in trouble with the principal," Chris tutted. "Healing Hand... maybe that can be my code name."

* * *

"Miss Pryde, if this is about what I said earlier I-"

"Oh please, no. That was well within your right. In fact, I was glad to see you assert yourself. I actually wanted to talk about Mr. Wagner."

"Oh."

"You should know, it's okay to be scared of him. I was, at first, when I was little. But he's just a fuzzy elf, inside and out."

"I see him trying to be friendly, but it really isn't his fault," Cecily said sadly. "When I look at him I remember what happened to me. How I turned into... this."

"And that's why I think you two should work together. He's the expert on learning to live with physical mutations. He'd do anything to help someone going through what he did."

"If you think it will help then... I'll try."

* * *

"Oh boy what a day," Kitty said as she entered the downstairs faculty lounge. Kurt was prepared with two glasses of Scotch.

"You were great today. Like a totally different person from the first day."

"I still almost got Rachel hurt," she said eyeing the bottle. "Going right for the good stuff?"

"The professor was a man of taste, it's all the good stuff. But she has a lot of her parents in her, it's nothing she can't handle. It might have been a bit much for some of the others."

"Oh that's me, I only do zero or eleven. A skill I picked up in college. But we need a gameplan for awakening her psychic powers if we're going to get Cerebro up and running. We need game plans for all of them."

"Well, let's run down. Laura?"

She counted her fingers. "Impulsive, aggressive, independent..."

"Wolverine," they both said.

"I need to do a bit of making up with her. I think I should take her first."

"Mm. And I will take Chris. His powers are pretty well in hand, pun slightly intended," Kurt added with a wink. "It's his combat experience, or lack there of, that needs addressing. I'm going to capitalize on the brief bond he had with the staff."

"You should take Cecily too. I talked to her, and I think she's game."

"Really? That's  _wunderbar_!"

"She's having a rough time fitting into her new skin, but there's a lot of potential in a mutant with as flexible as body as hers."

"That leaves Hisako. She showed good leadership today. Perhaps you should take her to even things out?"

"Agreed. We should explore what the source of her armor is and how we can strengthen it. Is it mental, magic, can we improve mobility?"

"All very good questions for tomorrow," Kurt said, finishing his drink. Things are going well."

"Hey Kurt, how did you know that I drank whiskey?"

He grinned. "Call it my secondary mutation. Regrettably, I didn't develop a taste for alcohol until after I left Germany. But America opened up many new avenues. My love affair with the Mai Tai, for example."

"Oh that I have to see."

* * *

The two chatted into the evening, as the students retired to their rooms. Cecily sat in her bed making a fist, watching the clenched fingers meld together into like and then back. Taking a deep breath, she turned and punched her pillow. She pulled back and watched the mushroomed stub of her hand slide back into place. She would figure this out. She had to.


	11. Chapter 11

"Okay, try this. I'm going to think really hard at you. Like, we're both on a gameshow and I know the answer, but only you can buzz in. You try to pick up what I'm thinking. Okay?"

Rachel looked at Kitty wearily. "I'm not sure that's how it works."

"Okay, but something has to work, eventually. So if we try everything, we'll figure it out. Eventually."

They were on Day 5 of "trying everything." Rachel appreciated Kitty's help, but it was pretty clear that the young teacher didn't know the first thing about telepathy.

She once again concentrated, letting the colors flow into her mind's eye. She saw the bright light of Professor Pryde sitting before her. Downstairs in the gym Chris was working on the simple forms Professor Wagner had taught him. Further below Nightcrawler was in the infirmary with Cecily. Laura and Hisako were in the inactive Danger Room. She had grown accustomed to their energies in the time she had been staying at the mansion, but was no closer to probing their thoughts.

But then she looked back at Kitty. The instructor's head was practically white with pulsating energy. Could it be? "Professor, could you stop... thinking for a moment?"

"Um, sure. Is something happening? A change?"

Sure enough, the light faded back to its usual color.

"Now do it again!"

And the light intensified.

"Oh my gosh. It's working! Sort of. I can see your color intensify in brightness when you try to think at me!"

"It is? I mean, great! That's a good start. Let's keep at it."

* * *

"Interesting," Kurt muttered. "And you're sure it doesn't hurt?"

"Not 'hurt,' no. But it is rather odd."

The two were looking at a vial of Cecily's body matter, fresh out of a centrifuge. Nightcrawler wanted to know exactly what the girl was made of, so that he could understand how her body worked. They had already done an X-Ray, which wasn't especially helpful but seemed to confirm that she was continuous all the way through. No organs or blood vessels, just this silver fluid.

"Can you... try to move the bit in the vial?"

"The... the bit?"

"Erm, I'm not sure what else to call it."

The two stared at one another for a minute, until somewhat inexplicably Cecily started to giggle. Kurt couldn't help but laugh as well, for he hadn't heard the young girl laugh in all the time he'd known her and the sound warmed his heart.

"This is all pretty ridiculous isn't it?" She managed to get out.

"I've seen my share of ridiculous," Kurt said.

"How do you deal with it? With... that?"

"You mean my fur." It wasn't a question.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to be rude."

"Of course, of course." He tried not to look so serious. "It wasn't easy. Especially not at first. My mother and I were in a circus. They were simple folk, and no one is born cruel... but cruelty is easy when you don't look like them. My mutation arose, and I was locked in a cage. Steadily my act went from the trapeze to being a sideshow attraction."

"What did you do?"

"After a few months, I figured out how to teleport. And that was the end of our circus days for my family. We lived on our own for a while. Then Xavier found me. Now I never need to worry about what others think of me."

"But what about when you need to go out? Like when you get our groceries?"

"We had our methods. I wasn't the only fuzzy blue X-Man in my day. Doctor McCoy developed this tech - one day I will show it to you. But first we need you to be comfortable in your own skin. If Hank were here, maybe he would know how that skin actually worked."

A soft tapping sound got his attention. He held up the vial to see the silver fluid jumping and bouncing around inside. Cecily was staring intently at it. "It's responding, like you asked."

* * *

Hisako hit the matt again. "Damn Laura. Where'd you get a grip like that?"

Laura stood over her grinning proudly. "When you are born in a government black site you are never too young to start learning martial arts."

"I mean, my mom signed me up for Karate, same as most people. I didn't get a lot out of it."

Laura sat down next to her. Lockheed flitted over from where he was supervising to Hisako's stomach. "Does your armored form weigh anything? You have a much bigger footprint with it on. You should look at a fighting style for low centers of gravity."

"Ooh, interesting. I do want to learn not to use my armor as a crutch though."

"I'll allow it. After all, you face a  _superior_  opponent."

"Oh is that how it is?" Hisako said, standing back up. She brushed Lockheed off and the dragon flew back to a safe distance. "Then why don't you bring out the claws and we can do this, chica? You show me yours, I'll show you mine."

Hisako willed her armor to life, rising a foot into the air. Laura wore a savage smile as she formed her stance.

" _Dale, Dale_! Let's see what you got!"

The shorter haired girl was slow but powerful, raining club-like strikes of her glowing blue fist down on the Danger Room floor.

Laura rolled and lept around their makeshift battlefield. "Use your feet! You have a lot more range!"

She slid out of the way of a stomp and then drew her claws. She needed to get off the defensive. But it was a horrible mistake. The adamantium met no resistance from the armor, and coasted easily through the side of Hisako's abdomen. Hisako screamed and collapsed to the ground as the armor dissipated around her. Laura watched her fall in terror.

"No. Oh God, no."

Lockheed bolted for the exit.

"Someone HELP!"


	12. Chapter 12

Lockheed burst into the infirmary where Kurt and Cecily were still running tests. Kurt couldn't understand the purple dragon as well as Kitty could, but he understood enough. His first stop was not the Danger Room however, but the gym.

Kurt puffed in behind Hisako with Chris in tow. Laura was still kneeling over the girl, her dark hair hanging over her face.

"We're here Laura, move aside."

And she did, falling to the side as if she were a house of cards. Her hands were scarlet with the blood she was trying desperately to keep Hisako from losing.

Kitty, Rachel, and Cecily rushed in now. "Oh no," Kitty breathed as she saw the scene before her.

"Chris, you can help her, you have to act quickly," Kurt's voice surged in the boy's ear.

He pulled up Hisako's shirt, revealing the two clean slices in her abdomen. Taking a deep breath he tried to think about how his powers felt, and then tried to amplify it. He had never had to fix something this severe. But when he made contact with the wound it was like his hands were attached by magnets. He felt energy flow out of him and into Hisako. More and more, as much as it took. His vision started to blur, but through it he could see the wounds knitting shut. Then with a gasp Hisako's eyes opened and she lurched forward. Chris's hands left her body and he fell next to her in a heap.

"Oh thank heavens," Kurt sighed as he helped Hisako up. "Are you okay? What about you Chris?"

"Just a head rush," Chris reported.

"I'm actually... fine," Hisako said, feeling where the claw marks used to be.

"What the hell happened?" Kitty said, running to embrace the girl.

"My armor, it must not block adamantium. We were sparring there was no way Laura would have known. Wait, where is Laura?"

* * *

Rachel, Kitty, and Hisako ran up through the old house, following the trail of bloody fingerprints on doorknobs and elevator buttons. The trail lead out behind the mansion and towards the wooded corner of the property.

"Laura!" The girls shouted into the trees.

Rachel floated a few feet into the air and closed her eyes. "Over here!"

* * *

Under a fallen tree Laura sat crouched, her hair tangled and matted. She stared through narrow pupils at the claws protruding from her hand. She was a fool for thinking she was strong enough.

"Laura! Laura..."

The sound came from Professor Pryde, catching sight of her as she crashed through the undergrowth. Rachel was fast behind her, mentally pushing the bushes away.

"Go away Kitty," she growled. "I shouldn't be here. Answering Xavier was a mistake."

"It's not your fault Laura-"

" _Sal de aquí!_ Get out of here!"

"Nobody knew what Hisako's armor was capable of. It's okay."

"I am too dangerous," she sniffed. "They designed me to kill, it's all I'm good at."

"And you aren't even good at that," came a third voice. Laura looked up to see Hisako step past Rachel and Kitty and kneel down beside her."

"Hisako, you're... okay?"

"I'm better than okay. Chris and his sparkly fingers do a heck of a job. When I woke up everyone was there, except you."

"I was... afraid."

"I thought you were The Wolverine. Wolverines shouldn't be afraid of anything."

"That's not true. We're afraid, always afraid, of hurting people around us. Of not being able to turn it off. I could have killed you."

"But you didn't. There's plenty of other people beat up out there. So don't beat yourself up."

Hisako crawled under the tree with Laura. "Also this tree is disgusting. So let's go back inside." She gave Laura a hug and the the girl began softly crying.

* * *

After a while, the four emerged from the woods.

"Now that I think about it," Hisako said to Kitty, "How did you and Rachel get to the Danger Room so fast? Did Mr. Wagner tell you what was going on when he got Chris?"

"Oh my goodness, I nearly forgot in all the excitement," Rachel said slapping her forehead. "I heard Laura call out for help!"

"That's impossible," Laura said. "We were half a mile underground."

"No, no. I didn't hear your call for help, I heard you  _think_  your call for help milliseconds before you did it. I read your mind!"

"What? That's huge, Rachel!" Hisako exclaimed. "So can you hear what we're thinking now?"

"No. I still don't know how it happened yet. I found Laura using my usual Sight. Perhaps we can work on it together Laura? If it's okay with you, professor."

"Yeah, I think it's a good idea. And I'll work with Hisako for a while then."

"Hn." Laura mumbled.

* * *

"They're back!"

Cecily, Kurt, and Chris were in the dining room when they returned. Chris had a stack of plates in front of him three high.

"We're learning many interesting things about young Chris's powers," Nightcrawler said brightly.

"MgbLike hearmling mblakes me reallghy," Chris gulped. "Hungry."

"The more intense the injury, the more calories his body burns," Kurt finished.

"I see," Kitty said flatly.

Hisako and Laura walked to either side of Chris's chair. "Our hero," Laura said wryly."

"Yeah, well..." Chris was suddenly acting sheepish. "That's me. The Healing Hand. Or maybe the Helping Hand? The Hand of God!"

"Whatever kind of hand you are, you're pretty handy to have around," Hisako said. "Like a human triage station."

"Wait... Triage. French, right?"

"Yes, it means like medical treatment in a war."

"I love it. Christopher Muse: Triage."

"Wait, you mean as your mutant name?"

"Yeah, it really clicks doesn't it?"

Hisako frowned. "But I've never been good at naming anything."

"I like it," Cecily offered.

"I think it's a wonderful name," said Nightcrawler. "Though you have some time to think about it. You all have much more training to do before you're ready for field work."

The seven mutants ate dinner together that evening, perhaps the liveliest the dining room had been since Xavier passed away. In the back of her mind Kitty was still concerned about the idea of bringing the kids along for 'field work,' but seeing everyone like this, the professor would be happy, she thought.

* * *

Taipei, Taiwan

Rain fell steadily down on the streets of Taipei. It clattered off the roofs and down long gutters to the alleys below. It fell down on the head of Alison Blaire, who had elected to stake out an Essex Corp depot without an umbrella this morning because they would spot her on the roof. So far that was a poor decision on two counts. Aside from the week-long regiment of decongestant she imagined she would need to start the following day, there was no sign of the evidence she sought. Biological materials, sterile containers, anything that would suggest something other than Essex's usual business was being shipped in and out of the installation. Every day she spent hovelling in a bush with a camera or standing in the rain was another day Essex spent experimenting on mutants, or finding new ones to capture. She had 5 more locations to search before she went back to Pryde. Hopefully by then Cerebro would be back up and running.

"Control, this is Blaire. Stakeout is pointless. Cross one off the list, and get me a towel."

* * *

With a high pitched clang a scarlet red crystal human form fell to the ground. Its features were twisted in fear and pain.

"Again," Essex spoke calmly into the microphone as the staff carried the specimen off. He had no shortage of test subjects but his supply of patience was beginning to wear thin. The new sequence showed such promise. But he was no closer to a true prototype.

A restrained man, eyes bulging as he fought the straps around his arms, was now carted into the operating theater.

Not yet, anyway.


	13. Chapter 13

Several weeks passed, and for most of the students their training was going well. Rachel still hadn't managed to read any minds since that day in the Danger Room, but Chris, who now insisted upon being called "Triage" much of the time, was taking to the staff like a natural.

To test their agility they dodged a pitching machine in the Danger Room with their powers. Cecily proved to be the best at it, bending and creating openings in her body to let the softballs surge through. In her work with Nightcrawler she had discovered that every part of her body could be controlled independently, making her highly malleable. Rachel was no slouch either, stopping the balls midair with her telekenesis and allowing them to drop harmlessly to the ground. Triage impressed with his staff-work, Laura sliced the orbs to ribbons, and Hisako simply countered with elbows and punches.

As things began to normalize Kitty was able to spend some spare time in the Danger Room tinkering with programs and practicing her own skills. It had, after all, been years since she had used her phasing for anything. The work was hard and often bitter. Her swimming had kept her in good shape, but "good shape" wouldn't hack it dodging giant rotating knives and flamethrowers.

She also kept her word and began working with Hisako to strengthen her armor. They used a sandbag to monitor the force of her punches and kicks.

"So you said you were from Tokyo. Which ward?"

"Chiyoda," Hisako said slowly and with more than a hint of surprise. "Not far from Akihabara. You know Tokyo?"

"I know Japan. I've been there a few times. It's a lovely country."

"It's fine I suppose. Meanwhile I really like the wide open spaces out here. Grass is greener and all that, right?"

"Heh. Sure."

"My mom wants my little bro and I to help her in the bakery - we live upstairs from our family store - once we're old enough. But first I wanted to go to school, maybe travel a bit. I don't think she ever really agreed, until she told me I should come here to Westchester."

Kitty watched the charts intently. "Are you doing anything different with your hits?"

"Don't think so."

"Hm. Okay, sorry for interrupting."

"It's not that I want to up and leave them, I've always looked out for my family. But this is pretty important stuff we're doing, isn't it? And, I don't know, I like you guys."

There was no mistaking it now, her armor was shining brighter, in a more indigo hue. It also looked to be standing a few inches taller.

"What about your father?" Kitty asked excitedly, "You don't mention him."

"Nah, I never really knew him," Hisako said. Her armor shrank down to its normal state, the girl not really noticing. "He wasn't around growing up. It was just me and my mom, and my brother."

"Okay Hisako, let's try something real quick. Armor down for a moment."

She did, and Kitty stepped behind her, adjusting her form. "When you hit it again, think about your brother. Think about your mom."

Hiskao closed her eyes, inhaling deeply as she wound up. And as she swung a fist, bright red and bigger than the girl's head, materialized before her hand. The light crept all the way up to her shoulder, a mighty segmented gauntlet. It connected with a crack that sent the bag flying off of its mooring and into the far wall.

Hisako's eyes burst open. "What... what just happened?"

"When you think about your family, your power increases," Kitty announced. "I don't know if it's conscious, subconscious, emotional, whatever. But focus on that in your training."

* * *

As summer gave way into the first strains of fall, the young mutants alternated between training and fixing up the Xavier Mansion. Kurt and Chris pined for colder weather so that they could stop mowing the property's mammoth lawn, a task Nightcrawler called "a greater battle than any he'd had with the Brotherhood."

Cecily and Laura became fast friends. Kurt might have called Laura "a bad influence," had she not really convinced the girl to open up with her little pranks, both socially and with her powers. Stealing Triage's silverware from the other end of the table with stretched out arms, hiding under cushions to scare Chris. In fact, sometimes Kurt wondered if Laura had a crush on him with how much she tortured the boy vicariously through Cecily. But he only had 6 fingers as it was; he didn't want to lose any more by asking her.

Autumn also came to the Essex Corporation facility, where Nathan Essex had been continuing his secret research into the X-Gene. Over time his "sculpture collection" had grown considerably, and he was becoming desperate.

Today he was using a modified version of the strain that had achieved some success with James so many weeks before. They had since integrated the genes mined from their latest... acquisition.

"Experiment B-171, epidermal hardening test. Let us begin, ladies and gentlemen."

This subject was sedated, sitting upright in a chair that was now wheeled in. Below him in the lab the scientists put on their goggles and fired up the machines used to energize the patient's cells.

"At your leisure, doctor," Essex stated levelly. The lead scientist gave an affirmative thumbs up and pulled the lever. The lights dimmed and flickered as power surged through the equipment. In his catatonic state the patient writhed and twitched. Then suddenly the room plunged into blackness.

In the pitch dark the sound of straps snapping and horrified screams could be heard. But then a red glow filled the room below. In it, one could make out the devilish grin on Nathan's face as he beheld the scene before him...

* * *

_Ms. Pryde?_

_Professor, can you hear me?_

_Kitty!_

"Jesus Christ!" Kitty swore as she lept out of bed.

_Ms. Pryde, it's Rachel, can you hear me?_

"Rachel!" Kitty whispered harshly. Are you.. in my head?"

Y _es! And you don't have to whisper, you should just have to think it._

 _Oh, uh, wonderful! How did you figure it out?_ Kitty thought.

_I've thought about how we've been trying to get me to hear thoughts of others. But all this time I still haven't tried projecting my thoughts into others. So lately I've been practicing that outside of lessons. I also have this book -_

_Okay sorry, slow down. Have you been able to reach anyone else?_

_You're the first. Let me try Mr. Wagner_

Kitty had left her bedroom now and was nearing the student bedroom wing. She was wondering if Rachel was still communicating when her mental voice thundered through the house.

_**Hello?** _

Immediately the bedrooms erupted in screams. Nightcrawler teleported into the hall in a cap and robe. "Are we under attack?"

"SOMEONE IS GOING TO DIE," bellowed Laura from her doorway, a pair of fuzzy slippers on her feet and a scowl on her face.

"Everyone relax!" Kitty shouted. "It's only Rachel. Go back to bed."

_Sorry, everyone._

* * *

After things had died down Kitty knocked on Rachel's door.

"Come in," she said, out loud this time.

"So this is big news, eh?" Kitty asked once the door had shut.

"I think I overdid it," the girl said sheepishly.

"Hey, progress is progress. Now, you said you found a book?"

"Mm!" She said, nearly forgetting. "Look here." It was a copy of  _Madeline in London._  "My mother used to read this story to me all the time before she left. You know, red hair, globe trotting adventures, cool coat, what more could a seven year old want? Anyway, this book has a lot of latent psychic energy on it. I think it must be hers."

Kitty smiled. "You think it's hers?"

Rachel nodded. "There's just something about the way it feels. I felt it in Cerebro too, but I couldn't grasp it. But after I found it, I was able to talk to you telepathically."

Kitty talked with her a little while longer, then made her promise to keep the practicing to the daylight hours so they wouldn't have any more scares. When she returned to her room, she hugged Lockheed out of excitement. With Rachel's powers coming online soon they would be able to access Cerebro's full systems and start hunting Agent Blaire's mutant-nappers. Soon it would be time for the X-Men to return to the world.


	14. Chapter 14

"I really need a name."

Hisako and Kitty were standing in a digitally constructed theater in the Danger Room, waiting for Chris and Rachel to come and rescue their sandbag "hostages" as part of a training module. The two chatted as they patrolled the perimeter.

"Have you asked Chris?" Kitty said dryly.

"Oh yeah, sorry. It's me, 'Psychoframe,' 'Lady Light Suit,' 'The Psionic Centurion.'"

"Uh, that last one isn't so bad?"

"They're just all so... extra," Hisako sighed. "Now Cecily, she came up with something perfect right away. Simple, straightforward."

Laura and Cecily had announced prior to the session that the redhead would be taking the codename 'Mercury,' which everyone agreed was a pretty good one.

"Your power is pretty straightforward isn't it? What's the first thing that comes to your mind?"

"Maybe... Hey, that reminds me," Hisako turned to the teacher. "You'll need a name too, won't you Ms. Pryde?"

"Oh," she looked down, "I mean, I guess so but it's not big a deal."

Lockheed gave her leg a headbutt.

"Hey! Okay, okay. I... already came up with my name. Years ago, when the school was open. Shadowcat. My power was ideal for stealth missions. I've never forgotten it. But the school closed before I ever set foot in the Danger Room. Never even got my training gear until now."

* * *

Both attacking teams had one their bouts, Wolverine and Mercury against Triage and Rachel, then Rachel and Triage vs Hisako and Kitty. Now the students sat in the great room sipping some of Lockheed'' signature hot cocoa while the dragon watched from his perch on the fireplace mantle, chef's toque and apron still hanging around his tiny ankles.

"I'm just no good at this sort of thing," Hisako said sinking into her chair.

Rachel was floating a few inches above the sofa. "I would just like to keep being Rachel, if it's all the same," she said keeping her eyes closed. "In time I will take up the mantle of the Phoenix. But I'm not ready yet.'

"Your telepathy is already creeping me out, so you're making good progress," Laura said snidely.

_I already apologized_ , Rachel psychically retorted, N _o one thinks the pink pajamas are embarrassing, if you're still worried._

_I'm not_ , Laura thought back.  _I've been shot at since before I could speak English fluently. I don't care what people think of my damn pajamas_.

If Rachel had anything else to say she kept it to herself. Soon it was time for everyone to get to bed.

* * *

"Nice work today Laura," a voice came from behind her. Laura turned to see Kitty. She was noticeably bandaged from her last round in the Danger Room, having gone up against a somewhat overzealous Rachel throwing theater chairs.

"Thanks," she said, not looking back.

"Hey, wait up a second. I wanted to talk to you. We didn't exactly start out on the right foot."

Laura turned around, her eyes bright with either anger or frustration.

"It was hard for me, hearing about Logan. He and I were close. But that's no excuse for the way I acted that day."

"He talked about you a lot," Laura said, dropping her shoulders somewhat. "He always said that it was a shame that what happened to the school happened while you were there."

"He was a good guy."

"The best there was," her voice caught in her throat.

Kitty put her hands on Laura's shoulders. "and he has a great successor."

"Not that great yet. I made a lot of mistakes today."

"It's nothing you can't grow past. Everyone said Wolverine needed to learn how to be a part of a team. It won't come to you right away. That's just your instincts. At any rate you and Cecily had a good strategy going. Using your attack as a feint was smart. It's just too bad that Rachel could counter you so well."

"We spent a lot of time working on it."

Kitty smiled. "And I think I can help you make it even better in the future. So... are we okay?"

"We're okay," Laura said, and gave Kitty a small hug.

"You know," the teacher said as she embraced her back, "If I keep seeing Wolverines hugging people, it's really gonna affect their reputation in my eyes."

"Well don't get used to it," Laura laughed despite herself.

* * *

A few days later Laura accompanied Kitty to Boston so that Kitty could meet with Cecily's parents. She was concerned that they hadn't reached out to one another since Cecily ran from home.

"And while the Katzchen is away," Kurt had told Cecily, "We mice will play. We're going to have ourselves a night on the town, just us colorful types."

"Outside the school?" Cecily yelped, "We can't go out there looking like this! Um, can we?"

"We shall have to see, eh?"

Kurt went to his closet for a worn baseball hat and coat. "Hm. Must have shrunk." He flashed a toothy grin at the girl.

"What will I wear?"

"It's chilly. No one will notice a young fraulein in a hoodie."

* * *

It was a good night at the Hideaway. Piano was hot, drinks were cold, tips were coming in. But something caught the bartender's eye as a pair walked in from the cold. It was a guy and a young gal, hiding their faces in their clothes.

"Hey! You there!"

Everyone stopped what they were doing to regard the newcomers.

"Take that hat off."

Cecily squeezed Kurt's hand with hers.

But the Bartender's face softened into a yellowed grin. "You don't need it. Not in Harry's Hideaway!"

The crowd laughed and went back to drinking. Kurt whipped off his hat and lead Cecily to the bar. "Forgive my deception Cecily. I first returned to Harry's only a few weeks after our term, as it were, began. Imagine my surprise when the regulars all seemed to remember me, wonder where I had been. It seems the Professor really did think of everything."

"Let me guess," the bartender said sizing the two up. "A Mai Tai, and a ginger ale?"

"Oh, I don't drink anything," Cecily said. She pulled back her hood. "I don't really have that stuff anymore. But if you have something warm I could just... hold it?"

He looked her up and down. "Black coffee for the miss. Welcome to Harry's Hideaway. I'm Harry, Harry Morrel, and as that implies, I own this hole. 40 years running. I've been here long before ol' Xavier put down roots with that school of his. What's your name?"

"I'm Cecily."

"No, your... ya know, your  _name_  name. What would Nightcrawler call you?"

Kurt waggled his eyebrows at her.

"Mercury. I'm Mercury."

"You hear that everyone? This here's Mercury. A friend of ol' Chuck's!"

The assembled patrons raised their glasses and cheered.

"When Kurt here told me there was another of you feeling kinda down in her own skin we hatched a bit of a scheme. Salem Center's a suburb of New York. You know how many weird people come through New York City girl? You're out here scared to show your face because it's all silver, they got people dressin' like Elmo - in public! I don't know who's got it in your head that there's anything wrong with you. But there's too many people messed up in the head out there to be worried about what they look like on the outside."

Kurt and Harry spent the rest of the evening introducing Cecily to some of the older patrons who had been coming to the Hideaway since before Logan first brought Kurt around. When they decided it was late enough Kurt took Cecily outside.

"You were a great sport Cecily."

"Thank you. For bringing me here. I guess I hadn't realized how much time I've spent in the mansion and away from people that aren't you and the others."

"I'm sure there are better things for a 17 year to do than hang out with old men, but old men can have their uses. I think you've earned this, by the way."

He placed a wrist watch in her hand. "Three of a kind."

After Kurt helped her get the device on she activated it. Before her eyes her metal skin turned into  _real_  skin.  _Her_  skin.

"This can't be real," she said in awe.

"It's only a hologram. But it uses brainwaves to construct a fully physical model."

He adjusted his own watch and transformed from a fuzzy blue elf into a somewhat scruffy young man. He had the same features as the Nightcrawler Cecily knew, but he lacked the yellow eyes and blue color.

"Loses a bit of the charm, wouldn't you say? I don't have much to go on, it's been quite a while since I wasn't blue. Considering how recent your mutation was though, yours should be pretty accurate."

She looked at her reflection in a window. It was her, as if the last six months had never happened. She started to laugh, but something stopped her. "Why give this to me now?"

"Because as nice as it is here at Harry's, not everywhere is as welcoming. But I always intended on giving it to you - after you learned to accept yourself, metal and all." As he finished, he reverted back to his blue self.

"I think I understand. Thanks, Mr. Wagner." She turned off her watch as well and looked at her phone. "Oh, I have a missed call from Chris. And a bunch of texts."

"So do I," Kurt said, taking his out. "Hold on tight Cecily, we're making a speedy return."

* * *

"Next time you should let me talk to them. I can be very persuasive."

Kitty and Laura were in the car on their way back into New York. The Kincaids were less than receptive to what Kitty had to say. Their daughter didn't need schooling in their eyes, she needed a doctor. They wouldn't accept that Cecily's mutation was permanent.

"I think your continued friendship with Cecily is contingent on you not maiming her parents," Kitty chuckled. "Even if they are a couple of intolerant jackasses."

Her phone buzzed in the center console. "Could you answer that? It might be Kurt."

Laura picked it up. "Actually it's Triage."

* * *

Chris dodged a book as it whizzed past his head. The lights in the mansion were flickering madly.

"Hey Laura, you and Kitty need to get here, like now. Rachel's not okay."

 


	15. Chapter 15

_They need to get here._

_She'll bring the whole house down!_

_A thousand channels and nothing to watch_

_If my parents find out they'll kill me_

_It's getting late, Jen's gonna worry._

_Why won't sheNever catch The bus nowWhen I get outta this cell_

_Does whatever a spider canWell he's a menace if you ask me_

_One please withTraveling in Phoenix this weekWhere is that jerk_

_Extra MustardHey Getta load of the new guyBaxter Building? Oh it's that way_

_This Traffic will kill meGoose Egg from the Mets, buncha bums_

_As soon as the bell rings tomorrow you need to sell everything we have in_

_Better batten down the HatchesRain tomorrow, rain the next_

_Who's gonna be there the next timeDamn that song is catchy_

Rachel was lying on the floor of her room trying to drown out the  _thoughts_ , the sheer wall of  _thoughts_  bearing down on her brain.

It started when she felt Chris's mind outside in the backyard. It was further than she had ever been able to read someone. But then her power exploded; before she could control it she was getting mental feedback from all the way down in the northern boroughs of the city. Hundreds, then thousands of minds funneling into hers.

She was dimly aware that Hisako and Chris were outside, nervously awaiting their teachers' return. In an instant Nightcrawler and Mercury were in the house, then Kurt was in her room. Rachel could see him, but she couldn't hear him over the psychic storm in her mind. He was wondering if he should take her down to Cerebro. If she had any energy to, she would have asked him to think whatever he was trying say aloud.

* * *

Kitty and Laura returned to a house in zero gravity. Books from the library floated through the halls. Tables and chairs caught like balloons on the ceiling. The walls crackled with pink electricity.

Kitty sprinted up the stairs and through the walls of Rachel's room. The whole house quivered on its foundation. Kurt was already there, a grave look on his face. She turned Rachel over and saw her face. Beneath wincing lids her eyes burned, and thin lines of glowing magenta streaked out from her face.

_Rachel, look at me, open your eyes!_

As she did so Kitty felt a wave of force wash over her body.

 _These voices, these thoughts. I can't take it Ms. Pryde._  Even mentally her voice was weak.

 _Focus on me, me and Mr. Wagner,_  she beckoned for Kurt to come by her side. Each taking one of her hands, the two mutants made sure she could see the both of them.

 _There's thousands of tiny doors opening in your mind, Rachel,_  Kurt projected.  _But you can close them._

 _Just take a breath and concentrate on us,_  Kitty thought. At this close distance they could actually hear each other from inside their minds.  _Deep breaths, like you're doing yoga. Just yoga._

 _Close the doors..._  Rachel's voice echoed. She wasn't sure if it was was minutes or hours that they sat there, but as she focused the voices began to subside. And then they stopped.

The lines faded from Rachel's face, and she looked up at Kurt and Kitty. "I think I'm okay."

The door opened and the other four kids came running in. Rachel hung her head. "It wasn't my fault this time. It just hit me like a wave."

"We're just glad you're okay," Hisako said.

"Your mutation is very strong," Kitty added. "And getting stronger by the week. Your brain is adjusting to it, but it's getting overwhelmed. I'm not sure what we can do to help, but if there's anything you need..."

"I... am kind of hungry. Could we all get something to eat?"

"There's ice cream down in the freezer," Kurt said, wiping his brow. "Perhaps we have all earned a late night snack?"

With a weight lifted from their shoulders the seven mutants went downstairs. Even Laura was interested in letting Rachel talk through the ordeal. When everyone went back up to bed, Rachel sought out Nightcrawler.

"Everything alright, Rachel?"

"How did you know that, about the tiny doors? That came from deep in your memory."

"Ah, you're very observant. Those were your mother's words. She only developed her telepathy about a year before I met her. Your powers are developing alongside one another, and at such an advanced rate, too."

"I guess I need to remember that she went through all of this too."

"True, but not nearly as young. It's hardly a fair comparison."

"It's starting to scare me, I won't lie to you. And deep in you somewhere you're afraid too. I can see it."

"I'm scared that you could hurt yourself if we don't get out ahead of your powers. Jean wasn't even at her peak and the things she could do were... astonishing. But if there's anything I can do to repay her and Scott, it's keeping you safe. Now get some sleep."

* * *

Two weeks passed without incident. Kitty began teaching basic yoga in the yard at Rachel's request. Not everyone had the patience for it, though Cecily was better than everyone else for obvious reasons.

Then finally the day came that Alison returned to the school.

"Agent Blaire," Kitty let her inside. Allow me to introduce the team. I take it you already know Nightcrawler?"

"Not as well as I should," she said shaking the blue mutant's hand. "I was before his time. Saw you in the field a few times though."

"A pleasure to meet face to face then," Kurt smiled. "And this is Triage, Armor-"

"It's a work in progress," Hisako muttered.

"Wolverine, Mercury," Kurt continued down the line, "and, uh-"

"Rachel is fine."

"Yes. We will be your X-Men this evening."

"Wolverine, huh?" Alison sized up Laura. "Little shorter than I remember him."

"Not that much though," Laura smirked.

"I like this one."

Kitty lead them all down to the Cerebro Chamber. To say she was anxious would be an understatement; Kitty had been anticipating this moment for months, and was concerned how a much stronger Rachel would react to the Cerebro technology.

The students held their breath as Rachel put on the headgear. The spherical room ignited with light as the multicolored energies of Rachel's world appeared. Concentrating, she focused them into a much smaller grouping of pale blue dots.

"These are the world's mutants. All of them, in one place," Kurt said to no one in particular.

"There are still so many..." Kitty gawked.

"They didn't disappear," Blaire said, also struggling to take her eyes away. She hadn't been in this room for years. "Most of them just went on living their lives. Some of the more... prominent ones went into hiding."

"Ms. Blaire," Rachel cut in. "Where would you like me to look?"

"Oh yes. There are three Essex sites that I wasn't able to get enough intel on by myself to rule out. Let's start in the mountains over Bolzano."

The globe spun towards Northern Italy. "No," Rachel said. "Nothing. You'd think there's be at least one person who didn't know they were a mutant working there."

"They have some sort of tech that identifies our X-Gene. They must have swept all their employees since then. Can you read these coordinates in my head, in the Chinese rainforest?"

"The rainforest?" Chris tilted his head, "What kind of guy are we dealing with?"

"You don't know the half of it," Alison groaned. "We dug through his financials and discovered he has a private island. Like a whole island, in the Mediterranean. Man-made."

"Nothing in China," Rachel reported.

"Okay, then there's only one more place. North of Edinburgh, in Scotland."

Rachel drew the landscape closer. "Yes! Two, deep underground. A..."

Kitty frowned. "A what?"

"A man and a woman."

"Okay, so why... Oh."

"Do you think it's them?" Cecily asked.

"Who are we talking about?" Alison was confused.

"My parents disappeared years ago. Jean Grey and Scott Summers."

"Cyclops was your dad? And you think they're the ones Essex is holding?"

Rachel removed the headset and brought the room back to normal. "When I first walked into this room I felt an energy besides Mr. Xavier's. I was sure it was my mom's. And now those two there, one of them has a very similar energy. I don't think that's a coincidence."

Blaire rubbed her temples. "Wow. Well, if Phoenix and Cyclops are being held there, that's bad news. Their mutations are powerful in the hands of a man like Nathan Essex."

"So we had better go get our teammates," Kitty announced. Suit up X-Men. Time for your final exam."


	16. Chapter 16

An all-absorbing hum permeated the Fabricator room as Kurt walked in. He looked over Kitty's handiwork.

"A bit bulkier than the previous look, no?"

Kitty nodded. "The students have come along way in the past three months, but they're still green. I'm not taking any chances. I know what you like though, don't worry."

Kurt picked up the garment. A black compression shirt and matching pants, with a stiff red vest in the shape of a plunging 'X.' Throw in some white boots and gloves and it was very much a new version of his old suit.

"The designs are standardized," Kitty continued. "But the colors are customizable. I've asked the students to have their ideas ready to go."

* * *

Chris pulled his goggles over his eyes. He had seen guys in tv shows pull off the look, plus he could look into getting x-ray tech in them later. For looking at patients, of course. His vest - along with the belt and the stripe running down the leg of his pants - were a dull green. The belt was lined with pockets for handy tools he hadn't thought of yet. And then there was his staff. This was no practice stick; it was weighted specially for him, and had a nasty wide flair on the top end. He didn't expect to do much fighting, but if he did he was gonna do some damage.

* * *

Cecily's uniform was special. It hugged her body more than the other vests because it was made of a fluid material that imitated her body. It would move however she moved, without hindering her. The color was an easy choice. Red, like Nightcrawler. He had helped her more than she could ever put to words. But perhaps a darker cherry color to better match her skin...

* * *

Hisako did a quick stretch in her uniform. Her vest was white, as were the short gloves she paired with it, and the ankle boots. She had decided that since her armor changed color, she wanted her uniform to accentuate it, not clash.

* * *

Laura took a deep breath as she pulled on the suit. She had made some more specific requests, which Kitty was happy to oblige. The shirt and pants were a rich yellow instead of black, with alternating blue patches in the side ribbing. Blue gloves and boots with a matching yellow vest topped the look. These were the colors of the Wolverine, and she could scarcely stand to look at herself in the mirror to see how they fit. She hoped she could do her father proud. There was only one more thing left to put on...

* * *

Rachel looked at her reflection. Her suit was red and orange where Laura's was yellow and blue. An orange vest protected her. The fiery ensemble served as an homage to her mother's codename, even if she wouldn't use it yet. So did the jacket.

It was a beautiful red leather blazer, the tails of the coat shredded into even ribbons that caught the breeze when she moved. And when she took to the air with her telekenesis, they splayed out behind her like the wings of a bird. Like a Phoenix.

* * *

The five new X-Men met Kurt in the hangar bay. Triage eyed up Rachel's jacket.

"Might gave to add one of those. Is it too late to change my outfit?"

"Yes," came the voice of Shadowcat.

Kitty's choice was easy, because she had thought about it for ten years. As a girl she watched the older kids train and play in their black and yellow jumpsuits. This was her making up for lost time. Long yellow boots and gloves adorned her all-black suit, with a yellow-trimmed belt and a bright red and black X on the buckle.

"Once you get on that plane, you are X-Men. And there won't be any turning back."

"Didn't plan on it... Professor," Chris picked his jaw up off the ground.

"I'm afraid I can't come with you," Alison told Kitty before she boarded. "But if you can bring back the captives, their testimony will be enough for the Bureau to move against Essex."

"We'll bring them back," Kitty said. "Lockheed, you're in charge while I'm gone."

* * *

With a rusty clank the long-unused machinery underneath the school's tennis courts moaned to life. The sliding doors revealed a chasm far below, from which the Blackbird ascended into the evening sky.

A few hours later, under the cover of night, the X-Men were in Scottish airspace.

"Okay, I need Rachel and Cecily," Kitty called out. "The three of us are going in first. I need Mercury to find the surveillance center, and guide Rachel and I to the holding cells. Rachel, establish a mental link with Nightcrawler so that he knows where you are in case of emergency."

Kurt turned to the other three. "I can 'port Chris and Hisako into the facility in a pinch. Laura, you're a bit less fragile, so if we need a distraction you'll be first up."

" _Sí_. I know the drill."

"Let's do it then," Kitty stood. "I'm taking point. Follow my lead. Uh, but not for this first part."

And, opening the hatch, she lept from the plane.

* * *

Kitty was falling from a plane at terminal velocity with no parachute, and if not for the month she was having that probably would have been startling. For now though, she chose to admire the Scottish countryside from this most unconventional of angles. The first soft glow of the dawn was poking up in the extreme east of the horizon. They would have at most four hours to pull off the extraction with the aid of reduced visibility. A tall bank of clouds was perched to the north, eerily bottom-lit by the faraway sun.

She hoped she was timing things right. Taking a breath she ghosted through the solid ground, paddling up in a gentle arc like an Olympic high diver. Surfacing, she produced a small night vision scope and checked for the shapes of Rachel and Cecily's parachutes floating down.

"I'm here Ms. Pr-eh, Shadowcat," Mercury made sure to switch to codenames.

"Me too," Rachel's voice came in.

"Good. Now go get those cameras offline."

Dashing through the walls of the massive compound, Kitty remembered the last - and first - time she had been on a mission. Just like that time with the White Queen, a group of mutants was being held captive somewhere inside, and she had to find out where...

* * *

_"It's going to be a simple infiltration," Xavier told the young girl. "I felt Logan briefly, but the others are shielded from my powers. Your mutation allows you to get inside without detection and find my other students."_

_"And you're_ only _going in to find them," the white haired woman said unquestionably. This was Ororo Munroe, the X-Man Storm, and one of the kindest people Kitty would ever meet. "We'll take care of the rest."_

_"How will you know that I see them?"_

_"Oh, the professor will know. Trust me."_

* * *

_"Is she gone?"_

_"Kitty?!" Kurt's mouth was agape. "What are you doing in here little girl?"_

_The girl shrunk back from the tall blue creature before her._

_"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have yelled. Did... you get past the guards?"_

_"Mhm. I went through the walls. I learned how just this morning. The professor sent me. They're going to get you out. Somehow..."_

_"Ho... um, okay, listen. There's a very powerful and very scary woman beyond that door. You need to be very careful. Is there any sort of button you can see that would open my cage?"_

_"Miss Ororo said I should just find you, and they would do the rest." A dull rumble, barely perceptible underground as a peal of thunder, rolled through the base. "But let me see."_

_She brushed her hand over a panel that looked like it might have something inside, but shrieked as an alarm screamed to life._

_"Oh no. Run, Katzchen! Run!"_

* * *

Mercury slunk her way through a rather dirty air vent towards the nerve center of the facility. Most of the upstairs was typically modern laboratory and office space.

"Rachel, is this the right direction?"

The other redhead turned from the guard now absentmindedly wandering away to his newly implanted patrol route. "Yes, you should see a metal door labeled 'security' a few doors down. There aren't a whole lot of soldiers inside, they must not know we're here. Seeing all sorts of energy in the grounds outside though. With big guns, judging by the way they carry themselves."

The silver mutant dropped her head down on a long neck to check if the coast was clear, then pulled herself from the vent.

* * *

The lower levels were considerably spookier than the upper ones. Not so much a basement as a series of tunnels dug beneath the foundations and lined with plastic. Kitty tried her best not to clink on the metal grates that made up the floor. When she was a girl her parents took her to see a battleship; she was suddenly reminded of how it felt to climb around in there. Here and there she passed an opening where operating suites and computer labs had been set up. But it was mostly empty. Clearly they were preparing to expand their operations down here. Eventually she came to an enormous natural cavern. This must be why Essex picked this spot for the lab. A metal geodesic sphere, like the kind they built NORAD in, filled the cavern. Catwalks lead in and out of the sphere from the tunnels.

"Mercury. I found a big secret-lab-shaped structure down here. Am I to assume that our missing mutants are somewhere inside?"

"Sorry again," Mercury whispered to the guard currently pinned to the floor by her metallic arm.

"Uploading the worm thing you gave me and transferring the maps to the Blackbird. It's knocking out the cameras."

There was a thud.  _Speaking_  of _knocked out, she_  thought. The guard had finally lost consciousness.

"Looks like the holding cells are on the top level of the sphere. Can you get there?"

"Sure I can," Kitty replied. "You find Rachel an elevator. I'll need her help."

* * *

"Hello. Don't mind me, just go check the perimeter again."

"Oh yeah, of course. The perimeter..."

Rachel continued down through the facility, deterring guards where she encountered them. She knew the real reason Kitty wanted her down here. Her parents were in the facility, and she wanted Rachel to be one of the first people to see them.

Her mind was flooding with emotions as she stepped into the sphere. It was unmistakably distinct from the larger facility above. Clean metallic walls and floors wound in arcing corridors, not unlike a darker colored version of the mansion's sublevels.

Cecily's voice crackled in and out. She was losing her connection in the sphere. But she didn't need directions from here. There was one compass she could always rely on. Allowing the colors to swirl into her mind's eye, she looked for signs of life inside the lab. All throughout the underground maze the lights of Essex guards dotted the landscape. In the middle, just below where she was, there was an inner corridor with two faint glows. She could make out the shape of Kitty running through walls towards one, the female. Was it her mother?

_It has to be_ , Rachel thought as she approached the door. It was a cryogenic storage unit, heavy with insulation. Why _else would Xavier have chosen me?_

It took a great deal of effort and noise to wrench the door from its mooring. As the fog of the cold air meeting the outside subsided, she burst into tears of joy. He was strapped motionless to an upright slab. He was dressed in a black rubberized jumpsuit, hair dotted with spots of grey and chin marked with stubble. He was her father, Scott Summers, finally found after so many years.

* * *

Kitty plunged her hand through the door, shorting out the electronics keeping the locks in place. There was a whoosh of air as the chamber within depressurized.

"No way," she gasped, her hand involuntarily cupping her mouth. "There's no freaking way."

Much had happened to Kitty this fall. Dreams that became psychic conversations, inheriting the legacy of a mutant icon, meeting the children of her childhood idols, you name it. If it was weird, it was a Tuesday in Westchester. But nothing could have possibly prepared her for when she found herself face to face with inside that chamber.

Because there, on a slab of her own, was not Jean Grey  _but Emma Frost_ , slumped before her in a frozen slumber.


	17. Chapter 17

_Frost stormed out of the interrogation room. "What's going... you! The whelp from the house!"_

_Kitty's hands slipped, phasing into the machine before she could compose herself. She found herself frozen in hear again, at this woman who destroyed her home and now looked to want to finish what she started._

_"You've made a big mistake coming here..._  Kitty Pryde."

" _How do you-"_

 _"Know your name? Simple. I'm a telepath. I can find out all sorts of things about_  you.  _But first, I think you should join Mr. Wagner in one of these cages, since you're so keen on getting it open."_

_A pair of guards circled behind her, and Kitty ran for her life._

_"Silly child. You'll find the stairs in the other direction. But please, do tire yourself out. It will make my job much easier."_

_But whether she knew it or not, Kitty was not heading for the stairs. Instead she leapt into a swan dive and through the floor. The guards wheeled around, realizing they were the ones who now needed to reach the stairs._

Interesting,  _the White Queen thought to herself as the guards bumbled_   _off_   _after her quarry._  She could be anywhere by the time they get down there. Perhaps I underestimated this... Pryde girl.

_By chance she turned far enough around to see the cell where Nightcrawler was. 'Was' being the operative word, because it currently empty. Frost swore and stomped the ground, startling herself when the impact seemed to make the lights flicker and a horrific crack ring through the air. It wasn't her foot though. It was-_

_"My Queen! The base was just struck by lightning!"_

No it wasn't.

 _"Cretins!" She barked back. "We're under attack! It's the X-Men, the_ rest _of the X-Men! Get to the upper levels and form a blockade, NOW. And find the girl!_

* * *

Kitty composed herself and reached out to touch Emma. The woman jerked to life at the feeling of her glove.

"No, stop! Don't touch me!"

Shadowcat gritted her teeth. "I'm not with Essex. I'm here to... rescue you."

The White Queen grabbed her head in agony. "Rescue... your outfit... you're one of Xavier's people."

"Something like that. Now come on, I have a feeling they'll know that the temperature just spiked in here."

She hurried the source of her nightmares over to a nearby wall. "Hold your breath, and don't let go of my hand. Or do, I haven't decided yet."

Before Emma could ask what she meant by that, they were on their way through the wall and out of the sphere.

* * *

"Dad!"

Scott Summers barely had anytime to process his whereabouts before his rescuer threw herself around him in a hug. A thick metal apparatus was strapped over his eyes, blinding him to the world.

"Who's there? Rachel? Is that you? What are you doing here? How did you get here? Where  _is_  here? Oh my gosh, how big you've gotten!"

"I used Cerebro! Professor Pryde brought us all here to bring you and Mom home."

Scott's heart sank. He didn't understand a lot of the things his daughter was saying, but he did understand that.

"Listen, honey. There's something I need to tell you."

"Hold on. There's people coming. Let's meet back up with Shadowcat first."

"Rachel no," but the moment passed and they were off running.

* * *

Kitty and Emma were halfway across the catwalk leading out of the labs. She told Kitty what she knew about the experiments taking place.

"Essex is mad. He's trying to develop a way to express the X-Gene in baseline humans. Stealing tissue from us, microincisions into our brains and skin, all to create an artificial mutation."

"And are you feeling okay?" Kitty had to ask. "Can you remember anything from before your capture?"

"You mean do I have amnesia? No, I don't believe so."

Kitty stopped on the bridge. Emma seemed confused. Weren't they in a hurry?

"Have you not looked into my mind yet? Do you really not remember me?"

"I'm sorry should I know..." The White Queen's eyes suddenly flashed with clarity. "You. Oh, no."

"Professor!" Rachel and Scott landed behind them. She looked at the blonde with a frown of failed understanding. "Who are you with?"

"Emma?" Scott shouted, guessing who his daughter meant. She turned her head, and upon seeing the man ran over to him.

"Scott, darling!" Emma cried, drawing the veteran mutant into a deep kiss.

"Huh?" Kitty was exhausted, and very confused.

"What?" Rachel said with thinly veiled rage, her face flashing streaks of pink.

Scott managed to separate himself from Emma long enough to... feel... his daughter seething behind them. "I tried to tell you sweetheart. Emma and I are... seeing each other."

"So you just abandoned me? Me and mom?"

Scott grimaced at the words. Emma walked over to the girl. "So you're Rachel. You look," she smiled sadly. "Just like her."

"There they are! Open fire! But watch the assets!" On the catwalk below them a trio of armed guards were pointing at the four mutants.

"We... really need to get out of here," Kitty said urgently. Though in reality she would have done anything to have cut this conversation she was fourth-wheeling short. "Rachel, get Nightcrawler down here for evac."

"She can't," Emma frowned. "The walls are shielded to mental penetration."

"Great. Then we'll need your TK. We're going up."

Rachel shook her head, then nodded. "Hold on tight."

They all started to float slowly upwards to the topmost catwalk. Fortunately from this height the gunmen weren't very accurate.

"Your father has told me a lot about you," Emma called up to her. "He always thought you were meant for great things."

"I'm flattered," Rachel said without a hint of the feeling in her voice. "But our not falling to our deaths is dependent on me maintaining my mental acuity, so silence is preferred."

"Hmph," Emma crossed her arms. "I don't suppose you have anything to do with this, Ms. Pryde?"

"Good news everyone, Emma's feeling better." Kitty snarked. "And I'm not in anyway involved here. You're the one who apparently added 'homewrecker' to your list of endearing traits."

"Hrrn. You were too clever by half as a child, is it any wonder you should become such a terror as an adult?"

"Ladies!" Scott shouted as they lightly touched down on the catwalk. "In case it wasn't obvious, I can't see. I need someone to help me walk out of here, or else you're going to have to drag me."

* * *

"Come in Mercury."

"Ms. Pryde! I was worried when we lost signal. Did you get Rachel's parents?"

"Yes and no, respectively," Kitty grunted as she and Emma held Scott upright on either side of his arms. "There were complications. They know we're here."

"I can see that. Lots of soldiers heading your way. I'll radio for Nightcrawler to grab you."

"Send in Laura first. Tell her-"

* * *

"-They need a distraction," Hisako announced. "Draw as many guards as you can to the exterior of the facility."

"I'll make plenty of noise," Laura said, pulling up her mask. It was pair of goggles built into a yellow hood, with blue points emerging from either lens.

Rain was beginning to fall as she landed in the facility. The arriving storm had plunged the dawn back into a pale darkness. She was spotted almost immediately in her bright yellow and blue. But then who was here that she needed to hide from?

A bullet struck her in the side of the head, but the guard's rush of adrenaline was replaced by one of fear when the girl only turned and smiled at him.

"Fall back! Fall back!"

Wolverine dashed through the lines of foes slicing and battering the soldiers. She was being careful not to kill any of them, but it was on their comrades to get them quick medical attention. Running alongside one of the sentry towers on the grounds, she threw all her weight into cutting through two of the uprights, sending the tower on its side with a moan of twisting metal and plunging the terrified soldiers into the chaos of the dark.

* * *

"People are rushing back outside to give the perimeter troops backup. They're like little ants," Cecily mused.

"That's good," Kitty replied, "Because we have our work cut out for us here."

They were almost to the ground floor of the facility, but a blockade of soldiers five deep blocked the exit. Even more flanked them, cutting them off in a narrow hallway.

"I'll be there as quick as I can," Mercury reported as she made for the vents.

"Better to get to the lobby and stay out of sight until we get there. We'll think of something."

She ended the call. "Mr. Summers. You're usually the one with the plans. Got one now?"

"A simple one, but effective. Emma, pull this thing off my face. I want to get a good look at what I'm dealing with. I'll also need help aiming."

Very carefully, Emma undid the straps on Scott's restraint. "Keep your hands up!" One of the guards shouted.

Scott's eyes were closed. "Am I clear?"

Emma's voice echoed in his brain.  _Now_.

Emma pulled sharply up on the the device. At the same time, Cyclops opened his eyes, and the entire hallway was bathed in red light. When it at last subsided there was only a charred stretch of men and women writing and groaning on the floor.

"That's better," Scott said, pulling the restraint back on. But behind him the flanking Essex troops we're recovering. Emma leapt into their fire and coated her body in a diamond-like armor. Bullets aimed squarely at Rachel now bounced harmlessly off Emma with small  _tink_  sounds.

"That's new," Kitty breathed as she grabbed Rachel and Scott and made a break for the exit.

"It's what Essex was after," Emma replied, backstepping to keep the fire off of them. "I can only use one of my mutations at a time. He didn't even know I was a telepath until a few months ago."

The four emerged in the vaulting lobby of the facility, exit in sight. Above them rain plopped on the skylight.

"Okay let's get you two back to the mansion," Kitty began.

"Oh? But I was just getting to know Mr. Summers and Ms. Frost a little better," a deep voice called behind them.

 _Damnit_ , Kitty thought. In all the action she hadn't considered  _why_  there was so much security tonight. Nathan Essex was here, and now he was staring right at them.

"You bastard," Scott shouted in the direction of the voice. "How many months - how many  _years_ \- have you been torturing us? What do you hope to achieve here? Money? Power?"

"The future, Mr. Summers. I will bridge the gap between out races, bring peace to a world that will never understand you like I do!"

"You don't know what you're talking about," Kitty leered at the man. "Your experiments are going to get mutants killed, hunted for their powers like trophy animals."

"I am trying to save your kind," the anger in Nathan's voice rose. "Five years ago I awoke to a revelation: that there were people not like me, people with special gifts. And they were scared, hiding all across the world for fear of us ordinary folk. I want to quash that fear, and bring mutant kind to their place in the sun. I would hope Scott Summers would join me. He has such brilliant genes for the program. But he wouldn't come willingly."

 _Professor, I'm connected to Nightcrawler_ , Rachel reached out into Kitty's mind.  _Should I get him down here_?

 _Wait for my signal_ , Kitty thought back,  _and see where Cecily and Laura are._

"The new Essex Biopharm platform will finally allow mankind to evolve to its full potential! And if you insist on leaving behind your duty to help that endeavor, witness the first working prototype!"

The wall behind him crumbled as a shocking creature shambled into the lobby. It must have been 8 feet tall, covered in glossy black stone.

"Shadowcat. There's a person in there!"

From the inside of the creature's head came a red glow. "This is the fruit of our union, Mr. Summers." Essex said solemnly. "Ms. Frost's Mind, your power, my genius holding it all together!"

"Everyone take cover!" Scott shouted.

"Okay, Rachel? Screw my signal, go NOW.  _To me, my X-Men!_ "

* * *

 

A/N: as mentioned last week, the story will go on a brief hiatus this week and next, with the last few chapters arriving after. Thank you for reading!

 


	18. Chapter 18

In the next moment several things happened. From a large plume of smoke Nightcrawler, Armor, and Triage leapt into action behind Kitty and Scott. Mercury dropped from her hiding place in the ceiling and reared up as tall as she could make herself. By fate or by chance, Wolverine corkscrewed through a window in the front of the facility and rolled into formation beside Emma and Rachel. The creature loosed a terrible crimson blast of energy at the nine mutants, and Hisako surged forward. Her armor blazed to life around her, giving her the size and sturdiness to tank the hit form the monstrosity and shatter every window in the lobby.

Scott felt a large hand grab his. "You might need these," Kurt said as he placed something in Scott's hand. "I thought I'd bring them along just in case."

Smiling, he closed his eyes, removed the brace once again, and with a well-practiced motion opened the case and put on his trusty red glasses. He took a brief moment to be overwhelmed by the return of his sight; he looked at the chaos unfolding around him, then to a smiling Kurt, then to Emma, then to his daughter, who was shouting out to her friends. Her teammates. Then finally to the man who brought them all together.

"Welcome back, Mr. Summers," Nathan said, projecting over the din of the fight. "Or do you prefer 'Cyclops,' perhaps?"

Chris squinted as he scoped out Essex. "What's with Mr. Sinister over here?"

"Mister... Sinister..." Essex turned the words over in his mouth with a pleased grin. "I rather like that."

Cyclops turned to the boy. "He's the one behind all this, kid. Kidnapping, illegal experimentation, torture. He's the full package."

"If history need remember me for only the 'sinister' parts of my plan, so be it. The ends I work towards are worth more than one man's name."

"The ends you work towards will bring ruin to an entire group of people," Scott shouted as he fired a blast at the giant bearing down on Armor.

The creature was unphased, only glowing slightly brighter as it readied another beam attack. Wolverine gave up jabbing its legs with her claws and instead rushed Essex. The creature seemed to have enough intelligence to recognize who its master was however, and aimed right at the girl.

The ground suddenly went sideways underneath of Laura, at least until she realized it was her who had been suddenly shoved off course by Kitty colliding with her. She was about to voice her anger with the teacher for stopping her from getting Essex when the universe around her turned red. For a few incredible seconds they hung in the air as the beam passed through them. It wasn't hot. More like... tingly. Laura felt her back teeth go numb. Then the redness stopped, and they hit the ground with a thud.

"I know, I know. Healing factor," Kitty wheezed. But I don't have time for you to sleep it off right now."

"This is a mess, eh?" Wolverine peered up at the battlefield. They were laying in a deep gulch carved into the floor by Essex's monster. The man himself was nowhere to be found, likely making his escape.

"Would you think less of me if I said we should cut our losses and get out of here? We have Cyclops and Frost, that should be enough to get the FBI invested. Or, I don't know, Scotland Yard?"

"Scotland Yard isn't actually in Scotland."

"Look, I can't babysit everyone. Let's go. Rachel!"

_Ms. Pryde?_

_Spread the word. We have what we came for. Let's go home._

* * *

Thunder crashed in the clouds as the X-Men ran from the facility, the creature stalking behind them. Kurt popped Emma back to the Blackbird, then Chris, then Mercury. The others did what they could to stop it.

"It's Shadowcat, right?" Scott's voice cut through the storm. "Got another plan. This one's a bit more... stupid. But Kurt needs to get everyone out of here if it's gonna work."

"What's your play?"

"This thing absorbs my optic blasts. If it draws its energy from the same source I do, I can overload it. And hopefully not kill the person inside. Hopefully."

"Did you hear that, Nightcrawler?"

The fuzzy blue mutant was huffing as he ported back. " _Jawohl_. Let's do two at a time now. I'm running out of steam."

As he took Amor and Wolverine back to the jet, Cyclops removed his glasses and unloaded on the shambling glassy lump.

* * *

A security team escorted Essex to the roof where their helicopter, SX-2, was landed. "We have to get you out before the storm gets any worse, sir!"

As they ascended, Nathan held for them to pause over the scene. A stream of concussive force poured from Scott Summers's eyes into his creation, charging it with ever more light. The two young women behind him disappeared as the blue demon grabbed them, and his two Cyclopes were all alone.

The demonic creature appeared once more, obviously pleading his comrade to return to wherever the intruders came from. But suddenly a pinpoint of white light appeared on the creation's back. Then another. Then with a sound like splitting rock a fissure of energy ripped from the center. It cleaved the tail off of the helicopter and sent it careening downward. The impact also jostled Nathan from the vehicle, launching him through the air to a very hard landing. The last thing he remembered seeing was the glow of thrusters from a vanishing plane...

* * *

Some time later, the mutants were recuperating back at the Xavier Mansion.

Scott was in the library when Kurt walked in, a glass of water in each hand.

"Agent Blaire got her warrant approved. Essex has a small island in the Mediterranean. It will take time to muster international law enforcement though, so we'll be leading the charge. Just like old times, eh Scott?"

"Not exactly, Elf. Look where we are. Kitty Pryde, all grown up and leading the X-Men. My kid, training her psychic powers. Xavier..."

"Have you been down to see the stone?"

"Not yet. Not ready."

"That's fair. You and Miss Frost have been through a lot."

Scott turned his head with the barest of motions. "It's not what you think, Kurt."

"I don't pretend to think anything."

"I was so... broken, after I lost Jean. It was nice to forget for a little while. But I lost sight of the things that mattered. I wanted to go back to take care of Rachel, my last gift from the woman I loved. And then we were taken by Essex."

"Tell me, do you love Emma Frost?"

"I... I do."

"Then that's all that matters. Rachel is hurt right now, and that's going to be your responsibility to fix. But all she really wants is her family back. She spent the first two months here looking for remnants of her mother. When she's ready, you'll see."

* * *

Emma emerged from the bathroom. It had taken some doing but Kitty was able to find something in the woman's size. Fortunately, the Professor held onto the belongings Storm left behind.

"It's hard to wrap my head around," Kitty said staring at her.

"Seeing me here, in the mansion," Emma filled in the blanks.

"No, seeing you fully dressed. I figured you ran around in that corset 24/7."

Emma frowned. "You really do think the worst of me."

"What else am I  _supposed_  to think of you?" Kitty said with a bit of anger. "For most of my teenage years you were my definition of evil, and you haven't moved far down the list since then. You  _blew up my house_ , and you put people - fellow mutants! - in cages."

The White Queen looked down. "Yes... yes I did. I did a number of terrible things for the Hellfire Club, and I did them of my own volition. And I left the Club of my own volition as well."

"What changed?" Kitty was now at least genuinely curious.

Emma laughed coldly. "In the right mood I would say that  _I_ did, but the truth isn't so noble. I was a valuable asset to the Inner Circle, but I was still a mutant. One day it grew apparent that I was little more than a swinging lamp in their interrogation room. Just another tool. So... I left. My power had grown since that battle with Jean that day you helped the X-Men escape. I covered my tracks with some mental cues and walked out the door, my old colleagues none the wiser."

"And then you met Scott."

"He was in London," she smiled softly. "Pouring over documents related to the Convergence of Worlds. Things were... tense between us at first. But once he realized I really wasn't part of Hellfire anymore, he let me join him. A psychic could be valuable in finding another psychic."

Kitty was silent for a moment. "But you never did find her."

"I have no idea what became of Jean Grey," she shook her head sadly. "I fear she's no longer with us."

"And then what happened?"

"After that... we were two people, alone in the world with naught but each other. It was around that point that my secondary mutation developed. I've... evolved, Miss Pryde," she said as she turned her hand to diamond. "Inside as well as out, I'd like to think. I love him. Do you understand?"

Kitty stood up. "Understand is one thing. If Scott helped you turn your life around, that's wonderful. But that doesn't give you a free pass. I don't see how I could ever trust you. Not that that's even the point. Mine isn't the trust you need to win."

Emma sighed. "Rachel."

* * *

Nathan felt as though he was totally weightless. Mute to the world around him, he watched with amusement as doctors and aides fluttered around his stretcher in a panic. He extended an arm to get someone's attention.

"Mr. Essex!" A female scientist saw him and cried out. She sounded like she was speaking through a glass jar. "Paramedics are inbound to get you to the hospital. Try not to move."

"There is no need, doctor," Nathan spoke lucidly. "My day to die is not today. Essex Corporation holds mankind's keys to the future. It's time I walked through that door. Put me in the suit."

"The BiOS suit is untested. It will kill you."

"Not if we use the cocktail I've been working on. Is it risky? Yes. But our humanity cannot be ascended without... risk."

* * *

Emma and Scott took their drinks to the living room, where the students were gathered waiting for Kitty. An icy stare from Rachel told Scott he should perhaps pick a different couch.

The others had heard bits and pieces of what was going on with the girl, but the situation was still rather awkward.

"You're just in time," muttered Rachel. She didn't look at either of the adults. "We were just talking about how you need to do your orientations."

Scott tilted his head. "Orientation?"

"New Student Orientation," Laura said. "We're gonna make it a thing."

"We go around in a circle and say our names and powers," Cecily explained. "For example, my name is Cecily, and my body is made of liquid metal. My codename is Mercury."

"I'm Hisako, I make energy armor, which is why I'm called... Armor. It's impermeable to most things, but not to Adamantium."

"I'm Laura, and I'm how Hisako found out her armor wasn't impermeable to Adamantium. Call me Wolverine."

"There's more of them," Emma whispered.

"Was that you volunteering to go next?" Laura asked.

"Oh, ah, yes. My name is Emma Frost, and I'm a telepath. I can also turn my body to diamond."

 _And you used to be a supervillain named the White Queen_ , Rachel's voice rang in her mind.

"Name's Chris," the boy continued. "I can heal with my hands, and I call myself Triage."

"And I'm Rachel Grey. The Phoenix."

Scott grimaced and buried his head in his hands.

"Oh wait, we almost left out Mr. Summers," Chris exclaimed.

"Hm? Oh. Hello everyone. I'm Scott. I used to lead the X-Men as Cyclops. My eyes are portals to a dimension of pure energy, which is projected outward when I open them."

Everyone was silent for a moment.

"Okay, but really," Chris said at length.

* * *

Lab techs and physicians alike were sweating bullets as Essex's heart rate surged inside the BiOS Chamber. It wasn't because no one really thought the prothesis meant to divide the burden of the gene transplant would work. It wasn't because they had never attempted the procedure on a subject with several broken bones and ruptured blood vessels. It was because Essex refused anaesthetic prior to the test, and  _had not stopped talking_  since he entered the chamber. His voice roared ever louder as current coursed through the apparatus, a mad sermon about symbiosis and shedding the 'chains of DNA,' until at last the fuses blew and the room fell into a blue haze. Through the smoke of the opening chamber came the voice of their benefactor.

"I emerge, my friends. Rejoice, for I have ascended! No longer human. No longer shackled to that base plane of existing. No longer Nathan Essex."

He emerged from the smoke. Everyone gasped. Some screamed. None could form any words.

"Speechless," Sinister grinned. "As I said, Doctor, today is not my day to die. Now ready something that can still fly. I have prepare for my guests."

* * *

Kitty entered carrying a stack of clothes, Lockheed on her shoulder. The dragon would be accompanying the team for the final assault.

"Good," Laura stood when she saw the teacher. "Was getting antsy waiting. Let's go get him."

Emma raised an eyebrow. "You're going back out there?"

"We're the X-Men," Hisako said. "We have to save the world."

"Even if we don't really know how yet," Chris finished.

"Then we're coming with you," Emma looked at Scott, who nodded. He had asuvh a reason as she did to want a piece of Essex.

"Well you can't stay here, that's for sure." She deposited some of the clothes in Scott's lap, then Emma's. "But you'll need these first."

Emma unfolded the garment. "Are these?"

"Team uniforms. Welcome to the X-Men, Ms. Frost. Hope you survive the experience."


	19. Chapter 19

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The last two chapters will both release this weekend, so stay tuned. They might come out a bit later so that folks on the West Coast actually see it.

Allison paced back and forth on the tarmack. "Eighteen hours isn't good enough. We don't have eighteen hours."

The voice on the other end of the line sighed. "I'm sorry Agent Blaire, but you know the drill with enhanced individuals. Double the red tape. You'll just have to be patient."

"I'm at the air field  _right now_."

"Well there isn't much you can do. Can't save the world with one agent and an understaffed C-130."

"Unless..." Agent Blaire silently cursed as an awful idea dawned on her. "Actually, maybe there is."

* * *

"Coming up on Isla Sinistra, won't be long now."

"Thanks, Kurt. Hey Hisako," Kitty tapped the girl on the shoulder, "nice uppercuts back there. You're getting quite the handle on your powers."

"Thanks, Ms. Pryde."

Emma shifted in her seat. "I have... an idea. More of a suggestion."

"Oh?" Kitty raised her eyebrow.

"I can set up a telepathic link between the team. I've noticed that Rachel has been trying it, but I can manage it seamlessly. Plus it will allow Rachel to focus on fighting."

"That's not a bad idea. Team?"

"You won't make us do weird stuff right?" Chris asked.

"Like kill people?" Cecily added.

"Certainly not. Even if I wanted to, I couldn't control that many people at once. There's only two mutants I know with that kind of psychic power. Maybe three now that I think about it."

"That's a comfort," Kitty said dryly.

"Though I can manage mass suggestion. That might be just what we need."

* * *

"Sir! The men in the anti-air batteries are going AWOL! They're all saying the same thing: ' _It is safest to head for the docks_ ;' and putting down their weapons."

"Miss Frost has set up shop in their minds. They're preparing to land."

Mister Sinister put down his wine and stepped outside. It was a beautiful day on his private island. All the more so because today was the day he would save the world. He still looked like Nathan Essex on the surface. His skin, now ashen grey, was still framed by the same sharply manicured hair. A dark slit now ran across his forehead. The rest of his body was sealed inside the BiOS suit, a blue metallic garment that hugged his skin. The regulator was shaped like a large red diamond, matching the Essex Corporation logo. Behind him trailed a cape of sharp ribbons, intermittently pulsing with red light.

Truly, he was the perfect being. And once the X-Men were vanquished, all of humanity would join him.

* * *

"Man, how come the bad guy gets a tropical island?"

"Triage, we go to school on the set of  _The Great Gatsby_." Hisako swatted at a bug. "Seems like a bit of a step down so far."

"The Blackbird should be safe now that the men pointing rocket launchers at it think there's an evacuation order," Emma said to Kitty.

"Good work. Now, what are the odds that Essex knows we're here?"

"Pretty much a given at this point," Wolverine called from the front. Using her claws as machetes she cleared a path through the jungle.

Cyclops frowned. "He was probably in the mansion at the center of the island, but now he's likely heading for a way off the island."

"Unless he's trying to smuggle any research data out with him," Rachel interjected. "There are science personnel around here. They're all clustered around the east side of the island, a little ways ahead."

"Can you find Essex?"

"No. I don't sense him."

Scott turned to Frost. "Emma?"

"Hrm. No, I'm afraid not. Still, we should probably go see what they're doing in that building."

"Shouldn't we make Essex our priority?"

"We should make keeping those monsters off the streets our priority," Kitty finally said. "I'm with the psychics on this one."

* * *

Blaire looked at the trunk in front of her like it was a particularly large booster shot.  _It's your gear_ , she thought to herself,  _you need it. It's your own fault for not updating it in 20 years_.

Holding her breath, she quickly flipped open the lid. She cringed as the red light inside the cargo bay of the plane reflected off the contents in tiny points of light.

 _But you know if you're going to wear it, you have to go all out_.

Her face hardened. It was up to her. And that meant dredging up some memories she had long packed away in this trunk. Still, there was something about the whole thing that made a wry grin cross her face.

* * *

The building was a clinical white dome with sliding metal shades over the windows. Outside covered trucks were being loaded in a hurry and driven off to other parts of the island.

"The lab's here, alright. Frost, Phoenix, Mercury, you're up. Make us an entrance around back."

A few unconscious goons later, the X-Men were in the archives behind the great dome.

Scott's visor cast a dim light on the room. "Destroy everything. We can't let this information fall into the wrong hands."

"And who are you to judge?" Sinister's voice floated out from somewhere in the maze of shelves.

"Essex! It's over! Interpol, the CIA, FBI. They're all coming for you."

"And they will arrive to an evolutionary Utopia. Once I show them the majesty your genes have wrought upon me they will be cleansed of their ignorance! A grand display of the power of mutation!"

A flash of red sent the team scattering and Cyclops flying through the wall of the archive and into the dome beyond. It was then that Mister Sinister revealed himself in full to the horrified mutants.

"Essex? What have you done?" Kurt was aghast.

"I have metamorphized, fled the fraility of Nathan Essex like the butterfly abandons its cocoon. And I have a little piece of both of you to remember you by."

He pointed to the sizzling gash on his forehead with a grin. "Not quite as impressive as my Living Lasers, but still, it accomplishes its purpose."

Scott had composed himself enough to scope out the surrounding area. Much of the lab had been emptied. Only the metal frames of shelves and pallets full of cardboard boxes remained, stretching far into the distance.

 _Scott_ , Emma's thoughts mingled with his.  _Psychic link established_.

 _Multiple hostiles coming in through the side entrances_ , Rachel reported.

"The man you put inside that thing in Scotland. Is he...?"

"Severely concussed, but alive. You must be very relieved," Sinister grinned again.

Wolverine hurtled at him from the back, but was lashed out of the air by the tendrils on Sinister's back, now shining a bright crystalline white.

"And that, dear girl, is the White Queen's contribution. A tricky thing to manage, physical mutations. After months of abortive attempts I finally realized that my subjects were undergoing sensory overload, and so the solution was clear."

Armor sent a massive fist at Sinister, but more tendrils wrapped around his arm, allowing him to effortlessly block it.

"Sharing the burden between man and machine. A way to distribute the strain of the transgenic tissue away from the body. Prohibitively expensive of course, which is why I had to save this one for a special occasion."

Triage gave the maniac a wide birth. This was bad. The shutters on the windows above were closing, leaving large floodlights to bathe the X-Men in an eery pallor.

"Young man," Sinister's baritone snapped him back to reality. "What is your mutation? You bear no outward signs and I've seen no particular superhuman skills from you. Are you perhaps, the runt of the litter?"

"I hope you never get to find out what my power is," Chris shouted, biting back his anger.

The first shapes of the soldiers creeping into the room now formed in the glare of the floodlights.

 _Spread out X-Men_ , Kurt thought.  _It would be very bad for them to corner us_.

 _It's too late_ , Cecily's voice echoed through Scott's,  _they're covering all the exits_.

"I'm a firm believer in 'the survival of the fittest,' Mr. Summers," Sinister leapt off of Scott and backed into the advancing line of gunmen. "Where do you see yourself in that model now?"

_Can't you do that mass suggestion thing again Ms. Frost?_

_They're pumping white noise through their ear pieces, Triage. I don't have time to penetrate!_

_Everyone lock arms, now!_

No sooner had Shadowcat's psychic scream come out than the soldiers opened fire, unloading hundreds of rounds through the mutants. Through their shared contact with Kitty the X-Men were unharmed, standing in awe and horror at the rain of bullets phasing through them. After what seemed like an eternity, the front line finally ran out of ammo.

Kitty's bangs were plastered to her forehead from the sweat of exertion. "That... all you got... bub?"

"Far from it," Sinister said cheerfully. "Line Two, advance. This data is quite extraordinary."

Things looked bleak, but then the lights went out. A number of smoke bombs rolled silently between the legs of the soldiers surrounding the X-Men, creating a dense layer of fog from the waist down.

"Ladies and Gentlemen!"

The wail of feedback from a guitar filled the air, followed by the beat of an unseen drumset.

"In a once in a lifetime return to the stage!"

Now a series of spotlights began sweeping the dome, picking out dumbfounded soldiers in the dark and then rushing away.

"For one night only..."

Fireworks burst in the air, making the shape of blue starbursts. A spotlight dropped in the middle of the dome beyond the cornered mutants, illuminating the crouched form of Alison Blaire, dressed in a sparkling white pantsuit and holding a metal staff ending in a microphone. She gave a twirl as she rose to her feet and the ground erupted in pyrotechnics, staggering the front row of men. The music swelled into a raucous hair metal melody and she raised the empty hand above her head, dousing the light show with a snap.

"The Dramatic Return - of Dazzler!"


	20. Chapter 20

Thinking quickly, Nightcrawler used Dazzler's distraction to port the students out of the firing circle. Once the soldiers got over their initial bewilderment they all opened fire on the new threat, giving Cyclops the chance to divide the ranks with his optic charges. In a puff of smoke Kitty, Kurt, and Lockheed appeared "on stage" next to Alison.

"Thanks for the assist, Agent Blaire," Shadowcat called out. With Lockheed coiled around her arm she swung in an arc, using the purple dragon as a makeshift flamethrower.

"I feel tremendously overdressed," she shouted back as she summoned forth blast after blast of whirling color and bursting light. Sure all of her old stage gear was useful; the sequins in her jacket could be used for blinding flashes, the face paint was laced with metal flakes to throw off facial recognition, and the platform shoes contained military grade tasers. But it was a bit... dated.

"You have a gift for the theatrical," Mister Sinister bellowed over the din of gunfire and music. "Allow me to show you mine!"

From a compartment in his belt Sinister drew his remote and pressed it several times. All around the room soldiers suddenly dropped their guns and doubled over in pain. Their comrades bent down to help, then ran away as crystals shot up the writhing men's legs and coated their entire bodies.

"We're not getting paid enough for this," more than a couple of the mercenaries could be heard to say. Before long most of the soldiers that could still walk were fleeing for the exits. Triage and Nightcrawler rushed to mop up the stragglers.

Kitty turned to Scott. "Cyke, can you overload these guys again?"

"Not all of them at once!"

 _Did you see? The remote controls the Living Lasers_ , Armor called into the mind meld.  _If any of us get too close, he'll hit us with his collar thing. Rachel, can you grab it from his hand?_

 _He's too focused on his grip, I can't pull that hard_.

 _Wait, that's it!_  Emma interjected.  _He doesn't have any psychic powers, they were only able to use my telepathy to control the diamond form. If he's fighting me, he won't be concentrating enough to protect himself with the tendrils._

 _I'm coming with you then_ , Hisako thought.

 _Just stay behind me and wait for openings_.

Emma willed her secondary mutation into action, and then shouted for Sinister's attention. "Essex! If you wanted to sample my diamond form, you could have just asked! I do so terribly enjoy the attention."

"Ah, there's the White Queen I've heard so many whispers about," Sinister stalked towards her. "I was worried that rose had wilted in Mr. Summer's warm embrace. Come to show me the wrath of the Hellfire Club?"

"Your whispers weren't quite loud enough then," Emma said coolly. She caught a pair of tendrils with one arm and twisted them clear of her body. "I'm no longer employed by the Hellfire Club."

Stepping into the opening she punched Sinister square in the jaw with a force amplified by her increased density.

"Though you did get one thing right. You've pissed me off quite spectacularly."

He lurched backwards into the grasp of Armor, but the Living Lasers closed in to pour on the pressure.

"No. No!" Emma dashed over to Hisako, but the girl motioned with her head for the woman to foucs on Sinister. She wailed on him mercilessly, raining diamond kicks and punches in a frenzy. He very nearly dropped the remote, but at the last second Armor's endurance gave out, and he was free again.

With another tendril-coated punch he sent Emma cratering into the ground. But at that moment Chris' staff flew through the nest of ribbons on the villain's back, hitting him square in the head. Loosening his grip for only a moment, the remote telekinetically shot out of his hand,

_This is Rachel. Ms. Frost is unconscious, psychic link is down. Destroy it Shadowcat!_

Kitty thrust her phased hand through the remote, causing it to burst into a shower of sparks.

"No!" Sinister cried as he turned to the surviving creatures. One by one the Living Lasers locked up like statues, the glow fading from their heads. "This cannot be!"

"Yeah, it is, Sinister. I'm not going to let you sell out our race for personal profit."

With wild eyes he rounded on Shadowcat. "You think this is about money? Look around you. Look at what I have built. You think I need more wealth? I am trying to save this world from devolving into the anarchy of fear of and hatred! I am trying to give your kind the place in the sun it deserves!"

Wrapping his arm in the diamond tendrils once again, Sinister slammed Kitty into the ground. She felt ribs crack. Lockheed roared a cascade of fire onto him but he only swatted the little dragon away with his collar.

"But you were selfish! In your desperation to protect your kind you  _hoarded_  your gifts. You denied baseline humanity the joy and glory of mutation. Once they see the potential, the  _power_  you can offer them, they will welcome you into their lives. I would share this gift for free, if not for the soft-headed fools on Wall Street."

"Joy? Glory?" Mercury shouted, diverting Sinister's attention from Kitty.

"No," the teacher called out hoarsely.

"You think people would look like this if they had a choice? Our mutations can be a curse just as much as they can be a gift. Look what it's done to you, Mr. Essex. To them!" Here Cecily gestured at the frozen Living Lasers.

Sinister looked at them with an alarming gaze. "They are only the beginning. With more time and more funds we can transcend-"

"No! Not anymore. The only barriers left to transcend are the ones between you and prison. You don't care about humans or mutants. We're all just lab rats to you."

"I am the perfect being!" Sinister roared. He barreled down on the metal girl. "Human and mutant alike should be grateful to me for the work I have done here! You and all the others who will perish for it to continue will be lauded as heroes! Let me show you!"

Mercury leapt up to meet him. Cyclops shouted for her to get back, and it was as though everything went into slow motion. Mercury, vaulting over Sinister. A pair of blue boots emerging from her legs. Wolverine emerging feet first from her hiding place  _inside Mercury_. Laura's toe claws burying themselves deep in Sinister's abdomen. The girl kneeling down, using his torso as leverage, bringing her fists low enough to pop them into his chest. The blue-suited maniac falling on his back, Laura riding him down all the way.

"Holy shit," Kitty wheezed, watching the display unfold. Hisako ran over to help the injured instructor to her feet.

Sinister lay gasping on the ground. The last thing he saw was the four young women standing over him...


	21. Chapter 21

Through heavy lidded eyes Sinister could see Triage standing over him.

"Seems you lucked out. You did get to see me in action after all."

He looked down to see his body strapped to a table. Through the tears in the BiOS suit he could see unbroken grey flesh. The boy turned away, the glow in his hands fading to reveal a layer of dried blood.

"You've... healed me?"

"Yup," Triage said between bites of a granola bar. "It took me four snack breaks, but fortunately for you I've healed Wolverine Claws before."

"And make sure you mind your manners," said a female voice very close to his ear. "Or else he'll have to heal more. I'd be curious to see how that would turn out for your grey cells."

Sinister was suddenly aware of the pair of hands aimed directly at his head on either side of his face. As well as a strange weight on his forehead...

"Be glad he got to you at all, there's a lot of people left to work on," came the voice of Scott Summers from beyond his line of sight.

"Mr. Summers. You're here too. So what is your master plan? Why restore my life in this way?"

"Because I want you to go to prison. I think I've made that pretty clear. You can't just fade away like all your lab rats. They'll put you in the Raft, make you work for it."

Sinister tried to use his third eye laser but was met by a sharp pain.

"Oh, that's a little parting gift," Scott was audibly smug. "Since you wanted my power so bad, I thought you might like to know what that harness of yours feels like from the inside."

Sinister chuckled. "Oh, this is too good. So the mutant race proves their evolutionary fitness once again. And I pay the price."

"We're not out to be superior to you, 'Mister Sinister.' We're just normal people with less than normal skills. And we'd like to keep it that way."

"The conflict of species will only grow," Sinister said. "Without our guidance, war is inevitable."

"With your guidance? It was too. I'll take my chances with these kids," Scott got up and walked away.

* * *

 

The rest of the army on Isla Sinestra was easy to round up. Most of them surrendered citing their boss being crazy and them not being paid to deal with him.

Kitty surveyed the proceedings as Mercury and Hisako worked to gather them all in one place.

"You should go to the jet to get your last round of healing from Chris," Rachel offered. "You still have a lot of fractured bones."

"I'll manage for a little while longer. We're almost done. It's probably best to make ourselves scarce before the authorities arrive and let Alison deal with them. By the way, have you seen Emma?"

"Didn't Chris pick her up after the battle?"

"No, lost her in the chaos. Can you find her?"

Rachel closed her eyes and pointed. "That way. You don't suppose she's trying to escape, do you?"

"No, but I'll check it out. You help the girls."

* * *

 

_Emma woke up under the night sky. Which was odd, considering she was still four stories underground. She pulled herself up and brushed the concrete dust from her outfit. The X-Men were gone, of course. She tried to clear her head enough to remember. The girl let Nightcrawler out. He broke back in with Storm, Beast, and Colossus. Phoenix had woken up and the two engaged in psychic combat. She destroyed Emma, and most of the base, and they all must have escaped while she was unconscious. In short, the Inner Circle's plan to bring the X-Men to heel had been spectacularly buggered. She could see the flashlights of a rescue team up above, but she was in to hurry to reach them. The sooner the Circle could confirm she had survived, the sooner they could threaten to throw her out of the Club. But wouldn't let it get to her. She would adapt like she always did, and the next time would be different._

* * *

 

Emma smiled bitterly as she reached the garden. Seventeen years on, and here she was picking herself up from another hole in the ground. But things _had_ changed _._ She had a new life now, and she intended to keep it this time.

"Frost! We're getting ready to shove off!" Kitty's voice drew her out of her daydreaming.

"What are you doing out... here?"

The two stood at the edge of Essex's sculpture garden, brimming with the terrified frozen forms of over a hundred people.

"These are all Essex's test subjects," Emma said softly. "The ones that couldn't withstand the mutation."

"God... are they still alive in there?"

"Just barely. I followed the dim outpourings from their minds out here. I needed to try something."

Emma held out a hand to the prone statue of James the bodyguard at the gateway to the garden. "I think l can get into their heads, coax their bodies into dropping the crystallization."

Focusing her telepathy, she called out; _Sleep._

The coating on James' body rapidly thinned, until there was only his natural skin remaining. The man collapsed to the ground gasping for breath, then looked up at the woman, blonde hair and white cape floating in the breeze.

 _No, you are not dead. And I am no angel,_ Emma read the bodyguard's mind. _Stay here and recover until the authorities arrive._

Kitty watched James fall asleep. Emma looked up at her. "We can't leave these people like this."

"I'm not going anywhere. I'll let the rest of the team know there's one more job to do."

* * *

 

It took the better part of an hour to bring everyone out of their crystalline comas. Once she got the hang of it, Emma was able to do large groups at a time. At length they were ready to leave.

"Hey, lady," the old man Sinister had once used for conversation months ago waved for Kitty's attention. "Are you guys superheroes or something?"

"Uh, yeah. We're the new kids on the block. The X-Men."

"Hm, well," the old man adjusted his tinted aviator glasses. "You've gotta be the strangest superheroes I've ever seen. Maybe the strangest ones of all."

"Heh. You don't know the half of it."

* * *

 

"So how are we going to do this with only seven people?"

Chris frowned at the baseball diamond stretching out before them.

"Oh that's easy," Cecily waggled a too-large batting helmet on her head. "Mr. Wagner can play all the outfield positions."

"I knew there was a reason I liked you," Kurt smiled and offered her a smaller hat.

"By the way Cecily," Rachel whispered to her fellow redhead. "You're looking less shiny today."

Cecily held up her wrist watch. "I'm trying it out. Honestly, it's kind of weird being back in my own skin, but I have to admit it's nice to be 'me' for a change."

"Do you really think our powers are a curse?"

She looked hard at Rachel. "I do. I think it's a terrible burden. But it's also... wonderful. There's a balance. I lost my family. And found a new one."

Cyclops emerged from the dugout in catcher's gear. "All right, let's do this."

"I think you've gotten a second chance with your family, Rachel. Maybe you should give him one back?"

Laura rapped Scott on the back. "Gotta keep that pretty face safe from any stray pitches, eh Slim?"

"The more things change," Scott muttered.

* * *

 

Emma emerged from the bathroom and joined Kitty on the balcony to watch the students play baseball below.

"Xavier had impeccable taste," Emma marveled at the bedroom. She waved a hand at the field. "I'm surprised you aren't joining them."

"I wanted to meet with you privately. I think you should stay with us when we reopen the school."

"Let me guess, you want to keep an eye on me? Or perhaps you were hoping for a rich benefactor?"

"Well actually it's... wait, you're rich? I thought that 'Marilyn Monroe via Marilyn Manson' routine was only a gimmick."

Emma sniffed. "Of course. Say what you will about the Hellfire Club, but they've spent the last five generations healthily contributing to the Frost Family trust. You can't just order diamond-studded corsets off the internet."

"I was gonna say that you impressed me going back for those people on the island, and that if Scott was staying here you would probably be safer here too. But now that you mention it we did spend a lot fixing up the mansion this summer."

Emma smirked. "I had a few ideas. Perhaps build a few more dormitories further back on the property." She paused. "If we stay here, are there... larger rooms for the staff?"

"I'm not trading you my room, if that's what you mean," Kitty chuckled. "But yes, the White Queen won't have to make do with a twin bed."

"A pity," Emma sighed. "The bathroom really is exquisite."

"Sure is. We aren't forming a rapport, are we Ms. Frost?"

"Perish the thought, Ms. Pryde."

"Right. Well, here's to evolution. To the Xavier Institute for Higher Learning."

  
**|X-Men: Resurgence|**  



	22. Epilogue

Cairo, Egypt

_Details are still emerging on the startling arrest of Nathan Essex from two weeks ago. Survivors of the ordeal have told Eyewitness News that they were rescued by a group of enhanced individuals calling themselves the "X-Men." Footage of the incident is largely corrupted by interference from a nearby storm, but here we see..._

The woman whispered a small prayer to the goddesses for helping them escape. She clutched her arm, feeling a pang of pressure shoot through it. If her powers were working properly, she could have been there in person, instead of watching it on TV.

_So far neither the FBI office handling the case nor the United Nations Taskforce have commented on any superhuman involvement. The appearance of the X-Men comes after an incident in South America involving..._

She paid for her meal and stepped out into the busy streets, a hood hiding the white hair that framed her dark skin. Sending them some rain for cover was the best Ororo could do. For now. She'd be damned if she couldn't regain control of the elements. In fact, the whole world might be...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just wanted to thank everyone for reading. This was my first attempt at writing in this universe, and I had a lot of fun. I plan to do quite a few more in the future, but in the meantime, I primarily do Transformers fiction that I intend to start adding to the site.
> 
> Feel free to leave a comment or question, and until next time...
> 
> The X-Men Will Return


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